section_path: Types and operating principles/Gas lasers/Chemical lasers
section_name: Chemical lasers
paragraph_text: Chemical lasers
  
  Chemical lasers are powered by a chemical reaction permitting a large amount of energy to be released quickly. Such very high-power lasers are especially of interest to the military, however continuous wave chemical lasers at very high power levels, fed by streams of gasses, have been developed and have some industrial applications. As examples, in the hydrogen fluoride laser (2700–2900 nm) and the deuterium fluoride laser (3800 nm) the reaction is the combination of hydrogen or deuterium gas with combustion products of ethylene in nitrogen trifluoride.