Relationship between stimulated emission and reaction mechanism in chemical lasers utilizing mixtures of chlorine flourides and hydrogen

An analysis is made of the principal elementary processes resulting in stimulated emission from ClF₃+H₂ and ClF₅+H₂ systems. A study of pulsed stimulated emission from HF and HCl in mixtures containing also HCl, Cl₂, and ClF shows that the intermediate product ClF is a part of a laser reaction chain. The process H+ClF→HCl*+F is much faster than H+ClF₃ or H+ClF₅. It is found that "autocatalysis" by HCl molecules, which are also an intermediate product, is possible in the ClF₅+H₂ system.