Photoexcitation and photodissociation lasers. III. mechanisms of CO laser emission from the vacuum UV photodissociation of CH₂COO₂ and CH₂COSO₂ mixtures

CO laser emission was detected in the vacuum UV flash photolysis of CH₂CO. The emission is attributed to the initial photodissociation reaction {A figure is presented} Addition of O₂ to the CH₂CO system caused a pronounced enhancement in the laser intensity. This effect is believed to be due to the removal of the CH₂ + CH₂CO reaction, which produces uninverted CO molecules. A greater laser output was obtained when SO₂ was used instead of O₂. In the O₂-added system, a total of 16 transitions ranging from Δv(8→7) to (4→3) were identified. Addition of SO₂ increased the total number of lines to 34, lasing in the range between (11→10) and (4→3). This enhancement is ascribed to the occurrence of the reaction {A figure is presented} In addition to these chemical effects, the effects of flash energy, inert gases and total pressures have been investigated.