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Ionization, hydrocarbon breakdown, and other exotic processes can harm diode-pumped alkali laser (DPAL) performance and components. We develop a physical picture of these processes, including those that drive a non-Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution of electrons, and describe an efficient approach to solve these kinetics while resolving trace species, and enforcing conservation laws. Comparing the model to time-dependent experiments suggests that recombination and supporting processes are weaker than na\"{i}vely expected under relevant conditions, while methane seems to improve performance in the lab more than it does in the model. Overall, this work highlights the importance of tracking the true electron energy distribution, and how incisive experiments with time-dependent driving are. We also use the model to emphasize how ionization may pose more immediate heat loading problems in devices., Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures

Explaining variability observed in the accretion flows of black hole X-ray binary systems remains challenging, especially concerning timescales less than, or comparable to, the viscous timescale but much larger than the inner orbital period despite decades of research identifying numerous relevant physical mechanisms. We take a simplified but broad approach to study several mechanisms likely relevant to patterns of variability observed in the persistently high-soft Roche-lobe overflow system LMC X-3. Based on simple estimates and upper bounds, we find that physics beyond varying disk/corona bifurcation at the disk edge, Compton-heated winds, modulation of total supply rate via irradiation of the companion, and the likely extent of the partial hydrogen ionization instability is needed to explain the degree, and especially the pattern, of variability in LMC X-3 largely due to viscous dampening. We then show how evaporation--condensation may resolve or compound the problem given the uncertainties associated with this complex mechanism and our current implementation. We briefly mention our plans to resolve the question, refine and extend our model, and alternatives we have not yet explored., Comment: 14 pages, 13 figures