Abstract

The attainment of long sealed gas lifetimes is one of the few outstanding areas of carbon dioxide laser technology which need to be addressed. Electron impact dissociation of carbon dioxide can be overcome by use of a catalyst to recombine the carbon monoxide and oxygen so formed. Heterogeneous catalysts have been extensively studied; although effective, such catalysts necessarily introduce problems of dust release in a vibrating environment and impedance to gas flow. In addition, attention must be paid to isotopic exchange between catalyst and gas. These difficulties disappear if a suitable homogenous catalyst can be found.

© 1991 Optical Society of America