Development of diode laser absorption spectroscopy method for determining temperature and concentration of molecules in remote object

Abstract

We develop a method of diode laser absorption spectroscopy for noncontact measurements of the temperature and pressure of a gas mixture under unsteady-state conditions at low signal-to-noise ratios. The method is based on the measurement of the absorption spectra of water molecules and approximation of experimental spectra by spectra simulated based on spectroscopic databases. Different approximation algorithms of experimental spectra are tested, such as fitting by individual contours and fitting by a part of the simulated spectrum. We reveal that, at small signal-to-noise ratios, the approximation of experimental data by a simulated spectrum yields more correct data on the temperature of the mixture compared to the fitting by individual contours. For the examined temperature range of 300–1300 K, the determination error of the gas temperature in the test cell proved to be approximately three times lower than upon fitting by individual contours. The developed method of recording and processing spectra is used to measure the temperature, water vapor concentration, and total pressure under the unsteady-state combustion conditions of an air-hydrogen mixture in a supersonic flow.