PULSED HYDROGEN FLUORIDE LASER

A hydrogen fluoride gas laser produces output pulses of relatively long duration and high power by the addition of helium to the interacting gases. Various fluorine-containing gas molecules enclosed in an optical cavity are caused to break down by the intermittent discharge of an electric discharge across the gas, providing fluorine atoms which react with hydrogen molecules to form vibrationally excited hydrogen fluoride in the presence of helium atoms; the excited hydrogen fluoride molecules emit laser energy in the 2.7 to 3 micron range.