ABSTRACT
This chapter covers the basic overview of hydrogen fluoride (HF) and deuterium fluoride (DF) continuous-wave combustion driven chemical lasers, the physics and chemistry of these lasers, fluid mechanics, and modeling of chemical lasers. Propagation of HF laser beams through the atmosphere is very poor because of the water content in atmospheric air. DF laser beam propagation is much better. The laser beam atmospheric attenuation for HF lasing is more than 90%/km and for DF lasing it is less than 5%/km. For a deuterium fluoride laser where the lasing cavity supersonic flow is at a pressure of 25 to 35 torr, the passive diffuser will recover the flow from 150 to 250 torr (with appropriate back pressure). The basic equations of fluid mechanics of a gas mixture are applicable. Modeling of laser cavity performance must account for laser power extraction. In particular, the continuity and energy equations are modified for lasing.
