Efficient electrical initiation of an HF chemical laser

Efficient electron-beam initiation of an atmospheric-pressure HF chain-reaction laser has been demonstrated. Intrinsic electrical efficiencies of up to 875% have been observed with laser output energy densities of up to 51 J/liter atm at low initiation levels. This result was obtained for a laser mixture containing H2:F2:He:O2 at mole fractions of 0.08:0.30:0.61:0.01. Laser output energy was extracted from a volume of 104 cm3.