Method of molecular specie alteration by nonresonant laser induced dielectric breakdown
AssigneeResearch Foundation of the City University of New York
InventorAvigdor M. Ronn
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Irradiation of a molecular specie by itself or in the presence of a secondary material at a pressure above a threshold value for the particular system by a laser of predetermined minimum power and having a frequency displaced from an absorption line of the specie causes severance of the weakest bond and a yield of products containing at least one dissociative fragment from said specie. A Rogowski type TEA CO.sub.2 --N.sub.2 --He laser has been used successfully on a wide variety of molecular species. Solid, liquid and gaseous end products have been obtained depending upon the starting materials. When solids have been produced they are in the form of microfine particles or microfine aggregates. A neodymium glass laser has also been used successfully.
Claims13
A method for obtaining a stable end product comprising in combination the steps of confining a quantity of a dissociative molecular specie in a gaseous state at a pressure sufficient to maintain said specie in a collision dominated regime, irradiating said specie with the output from a laser in discrete pulses having a predetermined power level per pulse and having a frequency displaced from any absorption frequencies of said specie and any other specie that may be present, said power level being selected in relation to said pressure to cause with each output pulse of said laser nonresonant dielectric breakdown in said specie accompanied by severance of the weakest bond and at least temporary formation of at least two fragments from said specie, extracting from the products of said dielectric breakdown a stable end product containing one of said fragments, and continuing said irradiation of said specie until a desired quantity of said stable end product has been formed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.