Preheated, combustion-driven gasdynamic lasers

Abstract

The effect of preheated nitrogen on the available laser specific energy is examined for two classes of combustion-driven gasdynamic lasers (GDLs). The analysis combines a nonequilibrium model of the relevant GDL processes with a simplified nondissociating combustion model handling a variety of candidate GDL fuels. For a more comprehensive evaluation of the capabilities of preheating, an optimization routine is added to the combined laser/combustion models. The effectiveness of preheating to enhance laser specific energy is demonstrated, although preheating may impose unacceptable hardware requirements. The application of numerical optimization techniques appears to offer a means to improve laser design.