Numerical analysis of spatial evolution of the small signal gain in a chemical oxygen-iodine laser operating without primary buffer gas

A chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL) that operates without primary buffer gas has become a new way of facilitating the compact integration of laser systems. To clarify the properties of spatial gain distribution, three-dimensional (3-D) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technology was used to study the mixing and reactive flow in a COIL nozzle with an interleaving jet configuration in the supersonic section. The results show that the molecular iodine fraction in the secondary flow has a notable effect on the spatial distribution of the small signal gain. The rich iodine condition produces some negative gain regions along the jet trajectory, while the lean iodine condition slows down the development of the gain in the streamwise direction. It is also found that the new configuration of an interleaving jet helps form a reasonable gain field under appropriate operation conditions. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Shock slip-relations for thermal and chemical nonequilibrium flows

This paper appears to be the first where the multi-temperature shock slip-relations for the thermal and chemical nonequilibrium flows are derived. The derivation is based on analysis of the influences of thermal nonequilibrium and viscous effects on the mass, momentum and energy flux balance relations at the shock wave. When the relaxation times for all internal energy modes tend to sere, the multi-temperature shock slip-relations are converted into single-temperature ones for thermal equilibrium hows. The present results can be applied to flows over vehicles of different geometries with or without angles of attack. In addition, the present single-temperature shock slip-relations are compared with those in the literature, and Some defects and limitations in the latter are clarified.

The induction plasma chemical reactor: Part I. Equilibrium model

A mathematical model is presented for the numerical simulation of the flow, temperature, and concentration fields in an rf plasma chemical reactor. The simulation is performed assuming chemical equilibrium. The extent of validity of this assumption is discussed. The system considered is the reaction of SiCl4 and NH3 for the production of Si3N4.

The induction plasma chemical reactor: Part II. Kinetic model

A kinetic model has been developed for the prediction of the concentration gelds in an rf plasma reactor. A sample calculation for a SiCl4/H2 system is then performed. The model considers the mixing processes along with the kinetics of seven reactions involving the decomposition of these reactants. The results obtained are compared to those assuming chemical equilibrium. The predictions indicate that an equilibrium assumption will result in lower predicted temperature fields in the reactor. Furthermore, for the chemical system considered here, while differences exist between the concentration fields obtained by the two models, the differences are not substantial.

Characteristics of a CW HF chemical-laser calculated from a simplified two-dimensional model

A two-dimensional simplified model of an HF chemical laser is introduced. Using an implicit finite difference scheme, the solution of two adjacent parallel streams with diffusion mixing and chemical reaction is generated. A contour of mixing and reaction boundary is obtained without presupposition. The distribution of the HF(v) concentrations, gas temperature and the optical small signal gain (alpha sub V, J) on the flowing plane (X, Y) are presented. Compared with the solution solved directly from a set of Navier-Stokes equations, the results of these two methods agree with each other qualitatively. The influences of the different velocity, temperature (T sub 0) and composition of the two streams on the small signal gain after the nozzle exit are investigated. It is interesting that for larger J with a fixed v, the peaks of alpha sub v-T sub 0 profiles move towards higher T sub 0. The computing method is simple and only a short computing time is needed.

One possible way to promote the bond-selective chemical-reactions by frequency-modulated lasers

It is proposed in this paper that we can use frequency-modulated (FM) lasers to realize bond-selective chemical reactions or to raise the efficiency of molecular isotope separation. Examples are given for HF molecule and the C–H bond in some hydrocarbons.

Gain saturation in gas flow and chemical lasers

A theoretical model for gain saturation in gas flow and chemical lasers is presented. The theory is applicable to all possible numerical values of τ/τc, where τ is the characteristie flow time for the flowing gas to move across the laser action region and τc is the characteristic collision relaxation time. The saturation effects of the convection and the "source flow" of the inverted population are revealed. A general relation of gain coefficient and some new gain saturation laws are obtained. For the special case of τ/τc1, the present theoretical results agree with the experimental results on the "anomalous" saturation phenomena in the supersonic diffusion HF chemical laser determined recently by Gross and Coffer[8]. The theory also agrees with the measured results of saturation intensity varying with τ/τc in gas flow CO2 lasers[7]. For the special case of τ/τc1, the present theory is consistent with both the standard theory[1] for gas lasers where the gas has no macroscopic motion and the known gain saturation theory[2-5] for gas flow and chemical lasers.

Microscopic theory of chemical-reaction rate

In this paper we deduce the formulae for rate-constant of microreaction with high resolving power of energy from the time-dependent Schrdinger equation for the general case when there is a depression on the reaetional potential surface (when the depression is zero in depth, the case is reduced to that of Eyring). Based on the assumption that Bolzmann distribution is appropriate to the description of reactants, the formula for the constant of macrorate in a form similar to Eyring's is deduced and the expression for the coefficient of transmission is given. When there is no depression on the reactional potential surface and the coefficient of transmission does not seriously depend upon temperature, it is reduced to Eyring's. Thus Eyring's is a special case of the present work.

Kinetic model of continuous-wave flow chemical lasers

In this paper an analysis of the kinetic theory of the continuous-wave flow chemical lasers(CWFCL) is presented with emphasis being laid on the effects of inhomogeneous broadeningon CWFCL's performance. The results obtained are applicable to the case where laser fre-quency is either coincident or incoincident with that of the eenter of the line shape. This rela-tion has been,compared with that of the rate model in common use. These two models are almostidentical as the broadening parameter η is larger than 1. The smaller the value of η, thegreater the difference between the results of these two models will be. For fixed η, the dif-ferences between fhe results of the two models increase with the increase of the frequencyshift parameter ξ. When η is about less than 0.2. the kinetic model can predict exactly the in-homogeneous broadening effects,while the rate model cannot.