SURVEY OF VIBRATIONAL RELAXATION DATA FOR PROCESSES IMPORTANT IN CO2-N2 LASER SYSTEM

Vibrational relaxation data are surveyed in order to provide the rates of vibrational energy transfer for processes important in the CO2-N2 laser. A kinetic model is assumed for the vibrational energy transfer into and within the various vibrational modes of the molecules that make up a CO2-N2 laser, including the species H2O, O2, He, and H2. Experimental data are assembled and interpreted for the rate constants and the probabilities per collision for the various kinetic processes of the assumed mechanism as a function of temperature. For certain processes, the experimental data are reinterpreted in terms of more recent knowledge of vibrational energy transfer. The data are compared with theoretical calculations and various anomalies in those comparisons are discussed. The significance of the various vibrational energy transfer processes for understanding the operation of the CO2-N2 laser are contrasted with the state of knowledge of the rate information. © 1969 The American Physical Society.