Photoinitiated Chain Process in Air with the Formation of Nitrogen and Oxygen Exciplexes.

For the first time, the fact of excitation of stimulated emission of blue, green, and red in color in air was discovered when an air mixture was irradiated at atmospheric pressure with light in the visible wavelength range. This phenomenon is observed only under sufficiently intense irradiation inside the reactor with reflective walls and is presumably explained by the formation of O(1S)–N2, O2(A3Σ)–N2, and O2(1Δ)–O2(1Δ) exciplexes and their stimulated emission. Under the conditions described, laser generation of blue, green, and red colors was observed in the air. A mechanism for a chain photochemical reaction is proposed to explain the observed phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]