Laser-induced Fluorescence Measurements Research Articles

Low-temperature multistage warm diffusion flames

We report on experimental evidence of the existence of a new self-sustaining low-temperature multistage warm diffusion flame, existing between the cool flame and hot flame, at atmospheric pressure in the counterflow geometry. The structure of multistage warm diffusion flames was examined by using thermometry, laser-induced fluorescence, and chemiluminescence measurements. It was found that the warm diffusion flame has a two-staged double flame structure, with a leading diffusion cool flame stage on the fuel side and a second intermediate stage on the oxidizer side, with strong heat release in the second stage that can be comparable to that of the first stage. The results demonstrate that the spatially-distinct multistage character is due to the low-temperature fuel reactivity that allows for the production of reactive intermediates in a leading cool flame. These intermediates are then oxidized, on the oxidizer side, in a second stage via intermediate-temperature chemistry. In the case of dibutyl ether, the low-temperature peroxy branching pathway supports the first cool flame oxidation stage and produces intermediates such as alkyl and carbonyl radicals. The alkyl and carbonyl radicals then react with the hydroperoxyl radical and molecular oxygen to form the second oxidation stage. A detailed analysis revealed that ozone addition in the oxidizer promotes the second stage oxidation by increasing both the radical pool population and the flame temperature, but does not fundamentally change the multistage flame structure. Furthermore, the analysis revealed that with the increase of fuel concentration, a single-stage cool flame can ignite to a warm flame or a hot flame. Moreover, a warm flame can extinguish into a cool flame or ignite to a hot flame when the fuel concentration is substantially reduced or increased, respectively. Finally, under certain conditions, a hot flame can extinguish directly into either a warm flame or a cool flame. Hence, the results suggest that the multistage warm flame can act as a critical bridge between cool flames and hot flames and that it is a fundamental burning mode characteristic of low-temperature non-premixed combustion. The multistage warm diffusion flame is particularly relevant to combustion in highly turbulent flow fields and in microgravity environments, owing to the possibility of long residence times.

Axial evolution of forced helical flame and flow disturbances

This paper presents 5 kHz stereo particle image velocimetry and OH planar laser induced fluorescence measurements of transversely forced swirl flames. The presence of transverse forcing on this naturally unstable flow both influences the natural instabilities, as well as amplifies disturbances that may not necessarily manifest themselves during natural oscillations. By manipulating the structure of the acoustic forcing field, both axisymmetric and helical modes are preferentially excited away from the frequency of natural instability. The paper presents a method for spatially interpolating the phase locked $r{-}z$ and $r{-}\unicode[STIX]{x1D703}$ planar velocity and flame position data, extracting the full three-dimensional structure of the helical disturbances. These helical disturbances are also decomposed into symmetric and anti-symmetric disturbances about the jet core, showing the subsequent axial evolution (in magnitude and phase) of each of these underlying disturbances. It is shown that out-of-phase acoustic forcing excites $m=\pm 1$ modes, but the flow field preferentially amplifies the counter-winding, co-rotating helical disturbance over the co-winding, counter-rotating helical disturbance. This causes the flow and flame to transition from a transverse flapping near the jet exit to a precessing motion further downstream. In contrast, in-phase forcing promotes axisymmetric $m=0$ disturbances which dominate the flow field over the entire axial domain. In both cases, the amplitudes of the anti-symmetric disturbances about the jet core grow with downstream distance before saturating and decaying, while the symmetric disturbances appear nearly negligible. It is suggested that this saturation and decay is due to linear effects (e.g. a negative spatial growth rate), rather than nonlinear interactions.

On channel interactions in nested Hall thrusters

Nested Hall thrusters use multiple, concentric discharge channels to increase thrust density. They have shown enhanced performance in multi-channel operation relative to the superposition of individual channels. The X2, a two-channel nested Hall thruster, was used to investigate the mechanism behind this improved performance. It is shown that the local pressure near the thruster exit plane is an order of magnitude higher in two-channel operation. This is due to the increased neutral flow inherent to the multi-channel operation. Due to the proximity of the discharge channels in nested Hall thrusters, these local pressure effects are shown to be responsible for the enhanced production of thrust during multi-channel operation via two mechanisms. The first mechanism is the reduction of the divergence angle due to an upstream shift of the acceleration region. The displacement of the acceleration region was detected using laser induced fluorescence measurements of the ion velocity profile. Analysis of the change in beam divergence indicates that, at an operating condition of 150 V and 30 A, this effect increases the thrust by 8.7 ± 1.2 mN. The second mechanism is neutral ingestion from the adjacent channel resulting in a 2.0 + 0/−0.2 mN increase in thrust. Combined, these mechanisms are shown to explain, within uncertainty, the 17 ± 6.2 mN improvement in thrust during dual channel operation of the X2.

Light sheet fluorescence microscopic imaging for the primary breakup of diesel and gasoline sprays with real-world fuels.

This paper describes the adaptation of the laser-induced fluorescence measurement technique for the investigation of the primary breakup of modern diesel and gasoline direct injection sprays. To investigate the primary breakup, a microscopic technique is required, and with the help of special tracer dyes, a high fluorescence signal can be achieved in the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum, resulting in good image quality with a nonintensified camera. Besides the optimization of the optical setup for the microscopic field of view, different tracer dyes are compared, and their solubility and fluorescence are tested in the desired surrogate and real-world fuels. As a tracer, the phenoxazine dye Nile Red was found to provide sufficient solubility in alkanes as well as suitable emission and excitation spectrum for the use of the second-harmonic frequency of a Nd:YAG laser (532 nm). The good quantum efficiency delivered by Nile Red also meant that single-shot images clearly showing spray structures in regions measuring up to 3 mm by 3 mm around the nozzle outlet could be recorded. Compared to relatively easy shadowgraph techniques and complex and costly x-ray synchrotron measurements, light sheet fluorescence microscopic imaging is not overly complex yet delivers excellent data on spray structures as well as qualitative fuel distribution.

Detailed modeling of soot particle formation and comparison to optical diagnostics and size distribution measurements in premixed flames using a method of moments

Recently improved knowledge about key processes for the formation and growth of soot particles lead to very extensive soot models describing several kinetic pathways for particle nucleation and growth in detail. One of these models has been proposed by D’Anna and coworkers (D’Anna et al., 2010, Sirignano et al., 2010). In these original studies, the multivariate formulation was solved with a sectional approach, while a more recent study (Salenbauch et al., 2017) also showed the suitability of moment methods such as the Conditional Quadrature Method of Moments (CQMOM) (Yuan et al., 2011). However, being a moment method, CQMOM does not allow to directly access the soot particle size distribution (PSD). This prevents the consistent comparability of CQMOM results to soot measurements based on a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS). Furthermore, the comparison to laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) experiments is also limited, as the LIF signal only represents small particles and their concentration is only extractable from the simulation results if the PSD shape is known.The aim of this study is to extend the previously developed CQMOM soot model by a PSD reconstruction step applying the concept of entropy maximization. Maintaining the efficiency of the CQMOM moment inversion algorithm to close the moment equations, the model extension enables to evaluate the diameter-based PSD in a post-processing step without prescribing a specific shape as input. The updated algorithm is applied to simulate soot formation in two different burner-stabilized premixed C2H4/O2/N2 flames with a very lightly sooting (C/O = 0.67) and a heavily sooting (C/O = 0.77) character. Numerical results are compared to recently published LIF, laser-induced incandescence (LII) and SMPS measurement data. The analysis investigates the model’s capability to predict phenomena such as uni- or bimodal distribution shapes and the transition of small nanostructures to agglomerates in the two target flames both of which exhibit very different sooting behaviour.

Measurements in swirling spray flames at blow-off

Various characteristics of swirling spray flames of ethanol, n-heptane, n-decane, and n-dodecane have been measured at conditions far from and close to blow-off using phase Doppler anemometry and OH* chemiluminescence, OH-planar laser-induced fluorescence, and Mie scattering at 5 kHz. The blow-off transient has also been examined. The OH* showed that the two main heat release regions lie around the spray jet at the inner recirculation zone and along the outer shear layer between the inner recirculation zone and the annular air jet. The heat release region is shortened and more attached as the flame approached blow-off. Mie images and phase Doppler anemometry data showed a wider dispersion of the ethanol spray compared to the other fuels. Similar spatial distributions of the Sauter mean diameter were observed for the four fuels for identical flow conditions, with the Sauter mean diameter value increasing with decreasing fuel volatility, but with the exception of significant presence of droplets in the nominally hollow cone for the ethanol spray. The OH-planar laser-induced fluorescence measurements showed an intermittent lift-off from the corner of the bluff body and the average lift-off height decreased with increasing air velocity, with less extinction along the inner flame branch especially for the heavier fuels. At the blow-off conditions, local extinctions appeared at both flame branches. The blow-off process followed a gradual reduction of the size of the flame, with the less volatile fuels showing a more severe flame area reduction compared to the condition far from blow-off. The average blow-off duration, [Formula: see text], calculated from the evolution of the area-integrated OH* signal, was a few tens of milliseconds and for all conditions investigated the ratio [Formula: see text] /( D/ UB) was around 11, but with large scatter. The measurements provide useful information for validation of combustion models focusing on local and global extinction.

Experimental investigation of the deformation and breakup of a droplet in high-speed flow

Experiment on the droplet deformation and breakup is performed in high-speed flow passaged by shock wave. Vibration deformation, shear stripping breakup and catastrophic breakup are obtained in the droplet breakup experiment. The deformation and breakup of droplet are recorded by high-speed photography. The morphologies of droplet in different breakup modes are analyzed quantitatively including the evolution of length and width respectively identified in streamwise and spanwise direction. At early time the development curves of droplets are almost overlapped indicating that droplets in three conditions are compressed by the flow in the same manner. As a result of the shear and stripping of flow, droplet breaks into fragments when the spanwise width increases to approximately three times of initial diameter. There is some similarity between shear stripping breakup and catastrophic breakup in the temporary evolution which indicates that catastrophic breakup mode has the same mechanism with shear stripping mode somehow. The analysis of experiment results supports the viewpoint that catastrophic breakup is not an independent mode. The results agree well with the types of breakup which are put forward by Theofanous based on breakup mechanisms. Thanks to the planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) measurement, the distribution of atomized particles is visualized which shows that the increase of flow speed enhances the strength of vortex pair in the wake. The vorticity makes the area more unstable and accelerates the mixing between ambient air and atomized liquid. By the sufficient contact with hot air produced by shock wave, liquid in droplet is vaporized rapidly and becomes a bulk of droplet particles which are more easily to be blew off. Flow shear and stripping play an essential role in the breakup and atomization.

Laser induced fluorescence measurement of liquid film thickness and variation in Taylor flow

In the present work, experiments are done to understand the distribution of liquid film in Taylor flows occurring in small circular mini channels using laser-induced fluorescence. Gas–liquid Taylor flow is generated in 3 different channels of inner diameter 1.5, 2.1 and 3.1 mm to understand the effect of flow parameters and nature of forces on the liquid film thickness. Rhodamine-B, a fluorescent dye is mixed with water, the primary phase in the two-phase mixture and is excited by a pointed laser beam of wavelength 531 nm. The liquid film thickness with the excited fluorescent dye emits light at 610 nm which is captured using a CMOS high-speed camera. A long pass filter is used to filter the reflected laser light before being captured by the CMOS sensor camera. Subsequently, the image obtained is processed with a set of image processing techniques to determine the liquid film thickness. Different slug shapes are obtained for various combinations of flow velocities and are found to depend on the Bond number. Further, it is also found from the experiments that asymmetry in the flow regime is found to depend on the capillary forces acting on the flow and it increases with the capillary number. The film thickness is also found to vary across the air slug length and its distribution along the flow length is also presented.

Plasma-assisted CO2 conversion: optimizing performance via microwave power modulation

Significant improvement in the energy efficiency of plasma-assisted CO2 conversion is achieved with applied power modulation in a surfaguide microwave discharge. The obtained values of CO2 conversion and energy efficiency are, respectively, 0.23 and 0.33 for a 0.95 CO2 + 0.05 N2 gas mixture. Analysis of the energy relaxation mechanisms shows that power modulation can potentially affect the vibrational–translational energy exchange in plasma. In our case, however, this mechanism does not play a major role, likely due to the low degree of plasma non-equilibrium in the considered pressure range. Instead, the gas residence time in the discharge active zone together with plasma pulse duration are found to be the main factors affecting the CO2 conversion efficiency at low plasma pulse repetition rates. This effect is confirmed experimentally by the in situ time-resolved two-photon absorption laser-induced fluorescence measurements of CO molecular density produced in the discharge as a result of CO2 decomposition.

Dual-pump CARS measurements in a hydrogen diffusion flame in cross-flow with AC dielectric barrier discharge

This paper presents dual-pump coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) measurements for simultaneous detection of flow temperature and relative concentration, applied to the characterization of a discharge-coupled reacting jet in a cross flow. The diagnostic is hydrogen Q-branch based, providing a much wider dynamic range compared to detection in the S-branch. For a previously developed dielectric barrier discharge, aligned co-axially with the fuel jet, OH planar laser induced fluorescence measurements show that the disturbance in the flame boundary leads to mixing enhancement. The H2-N2 dual-pump CARS measurement was used to map two-dimensional temperature distributions. The increase of the maximum temperature was up to 300 K, with 50% more H2 consumption, providing the reason for the decrease in the flame length by 25%. The increase of the relative H2O-H2 fraction was accompanied with a temperature increase, which indicates local equivalence ratios of below 1. The H2-O2 dual-pump measurements confirmed that the fuel-oxidizer ratios remain in the fuel-lean side at most of the probed locations.

Innovative scheme for high-repetition-rate imaging of CN radical.

We have employed, to the best of our knowledge, a novel excitation scheme to perform the first high-repetition-rate planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) measurements of a CN radical in combustion. The third harmonic of a Nd:YVO4 laser at 355nm due to its relatively large linewidth overlaps with several R branch transitions in a CN ground electronic state. Therefore, the 355nm beam was employed to directly excite the CN transitions with good efficiency. The CN measurements were performed in premixed CH4-N2O flames with varying equivalence ratios. A detailed characterization of the high-speed CN PLIF imaging system is presented via its ability to capture statistical and dynamical information in these premixed flames. Single-shot CN PLIF images obtained over a HMX pellet undergoing self-supported deflagration are presented as an example of the imaging system being applied towards characterizing the flame structure of energetic materials.

Measurements of a potential interference with laser-induced fluorescence measurements of ambient OH from the ozonolysis of biogenic alkenes

Abstract. Reactions of the hydroxyl radical (OH) play a central role in the chemistry of the atmosphere, and measurements of its concentration can provide a rigorous test of our understanding of atmospheric oxidation. Several recent studies have shown large discrepancies between measured and modeled OH concentrations in forested areas impacted by emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs), where modeled concentrations were significantly lower than measurements. A potential reason for some of these discrepancies involves interferences associated with the measurement of OH using the laser-induced fluorescence–fluorescence assay by gas expansion (LIF-FAGE) technique in these environments. In this study, a turbulent flow reactor operating at atmospheric pressure was coupled to a LIF-FAGE cell and the OH signal produced from the ozonolysis of α-pinene, β-pinene, ocimene, isoprene, and 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol (MBO) was measured. To distinguish between OH produced from the ozonolysis reactions and any OH artifact produced inside the LIF-FAGE cell, an external chemical scrubbing technique was used, allowing for the direct measurement of any interference. An interference under high ozone (between 2 × 1013 and 10 × 1013 cm−3) and BVOC concentrations (between approximately 0.1 × 1012 and 40 × 1012 cm−3) was observed that was not laser generated and was independent of the ozonolysis reaction time. For the ozonolysis of α- and β-pinene, the observed interference accounted for approximately 40 % of the total OH signal, while for the ozonolysis of ocimene the observed interference accounted for approximately 70 % of the total OH signal. Addition of acetic acid to the reactor eliminated the interference, suggesting that the source of the interference in these experiments involved the decomposition of stabilized Criegee intermediates (SCIs) inside the FAGE detection cell. Extrapolation of these measurements to ambient concentrations suggests that these interferences should be below the detection limit of the instrument.

Transition Probabilities of Co ii Weak Lines to the Ground and Low Metastable Levels.

New branching fraction (BF) measurements based primarily on data from a cross-dispersed echelle spectrometer are reported for 84 lines of Co ii. The BFs for 82 lines are converted to absolute atomic transition probabilities using radiative lifetimes from laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) measurements on 19 upper levels of the lines. A lifetime of 3.3(2) ns for the z5D0 level is used based on LIF measurements for lifetimes of the four other levels in the z5D term. Twelve of the eighty-four lines are weak transitions connecting to the ground and low metastable levels of Co+. Another 46 lines are strong transitions connecting to the ground and low metastable levels of Co+. For these lines, log(gf) values were measured in earlier studies and, with a few exceptions, are confirmed in this study. Such lines, if unblended in stellar spectra, have the potential to yield Co abundance values unaffected by any breakdown of the local thermodynamic equilibrium approximation in stellar photospheres because the ground and low metastable levels of Co+ are the primary population reservoirs of Co in the photospheres of interest. Weak lines, if unblended, are useful in photospheres with high Co abundance, and strong lines are useful in metal-poor photospheres. New hyperfine structure A constants for 28 levels of ionized Co from least-squares fits to Fourier transform spectra line profiles are reported. These laboratory data are applied to re-determine the Co abundance in the metal-poor halo star HD 84937. BFs and transition probabilities for 19 lines are reported for the first time.

Detection of carbon monoxide (CO) in sooting hydrocarbon flames using femtosecond two-photon laser-induced fluorescence (fs-TPLIF)

Ultrashort-pulse, femtosecond (fs)-duration, two-photon laser-induced fluorescence (fs-TPLIF) measurements of carbon monoxide (CO) are reported in rich, sooting hydrocarbon flames. CO-TPLIF detection using conventional nanosecond or picosecond lasers are often plagued by photochemical interferences, specifically under fuel-rich flames conditions. In the current study, we investigate the commonly used CO two-photon excitation scheme of the B1Σ+ ← X1Σ+ electronic transition, using approximately 100-fs-duration excitation pulses. Fluorescence emission was observed in the Angstrom band originating from directly populated B1Σ+ upper state, as well as, in the third positive band from collisionally populated b3Σ+ upper state. The current work was focused on the Angstrom band emission. Interference from nascent C2 emissions originating from hot soot particles in the flame could be reduced to a negligible level using a narrower detection gate width. In contrast, avoiding interferences from laser-generated C2 Swan-band emissions required specific narrowband spectral filtering in sooting flame conditions. The observed less than quadratic laser pulse energy dependence of the TPLIF signal suggests the presence of strong three-photon ionization and stimulated emission processes. In a range of CH4/air and C2H4/air premixed flames investigated, the measured CO fluorescence signals agree well with the calculated equilibrium CO number densities. Reduced-interference CO-TPLIF imaging in premixed C2H4/O2/N2 jet flames is also reported.

Coplanar surface barrier discharge ignited in water vapor—a selective source of OH radicals proved by (TA)LIF measurement

Coplanar dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) was ignited in pure water vapor at atmospheric pressure in order to generate highly oxidizing plasma with one specific type of reactive radicals. In order to prevent water condensation the used plasma reactor was heated to 120 C. The composition of the radical species in the discharge was studied by methods based on laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) and compared with analogous measurements realized in the same coplanar DBD ignited in air. Fast collisional processes and laser-surface interaction were taken into account during LIF data processing. It was found that coplanar DBD ignited in water vapor produces hydroxyl (OH) radicals with concentration in the order of 1020 m−3, which is higher than the value measured in discharge in humid air (40% relative humidity at 21 C). The concentration of atomic hydrogen radicals in the DBD ignited in water vapor was below the detection limit, which proves that the generation of oxidizing plasma with dominance of one specific type of reactive radicals was achieved. The temporal evolution, spatial distribution, power dependence and rotational temperature of the OH radicals was determined in the DBD ignited in both water vapor and air.

Entrainment across a sheared density interface in a cavity flow

The entrainment of fluid across a sheared density interface has been examined experimentally in a purging cavity flow. In this flow, a long straight cavity with sloped entry and exit boundaries is located in the base of a straight open channel. Dense cavity fluid is entrained from the cavity into the turbulent overflow. The cavity geometry has been designed to ensure there is no separation of the overflow in the cavity region, with the goal of avoiding cavity-specific entrainment mechanisms as have been encountered in most previous experiments using similar arrangements. Results are obtained over a bulk Richardson number range $Ri_{b}=g\unicode[STIX]{x0394}\unicode[STIX]{x1D70C}D/\unicode[STIX]{x1D70C}_{0}U_{b}^{2}=1$ to 19, where $D$ and $U_{b}$ are the depth of the mixed layer and bulk velocity in the cavity, respectively. The experiments cover the Reynolds number range $Re=U_{b}D/\unicode[STIX]{x1D708}=7100$ to 15 100 and interface length to mixed layer depth ratios of 2.4 to 16. Particle image velocimetry and laser induced fluorescence measurements indicate the flow regime over this entire range is one dominated by the Holmboe wave instability. The non-dimensional entrainment rate, $E=u_{e}/U_{b}$, is shown to scale with the bulk Richardson number. We find that the entrainment scaling $E=CRi_{b}^{-1.38}$ applies over the entire experimental range, with no apparent dependence on interface length. The exponent in the scaling is similar to previous non-cavity-based sheared interface flows, however, the constant $C$ is up to an order of magnitude smaller. Close agreement is, however, obtained by instead correlating entrainment with the local gradient Richardson number centred on the interface, rather than bulk quantities. We obtain $E=0.0021Ri_{g}^{-0.63}$ for data over $10<Ri_{g}<50$, where $Ri_{g}=\langle g\unicode[STIX]{x2202}\unicode[STIX]{x1D70C}/\unicode[STIX]{x1D70C}_{0}\unicode[STIX]{x2202}z\rangle /\langle (\unicode[STIX]{x2202}U/\unicode[STIX]{x2202}z)^{2}\rangle$. The density interface is much thinner and therefore more stable in the present flow configuration compared with other published results for the same bulk Richardson number. We suggest that our configuration ensures a sharp mixing layer profile at the upstream end of the cavity even at relatively low bulk Richardson numbers of $Ri_{b}=1$ and that the reduced mixing in the Holmboe wave regime allows the interface to retain its sharp character over the cavity length, resulting in weak sensitivity to cavity length.

High Momentum Jet Flames at Elevated Pressure: Detailed Investigation of Flame Stabilization With Simultaneous Particle Image Velocimetry and OH-LIF

A model FLOX® combustor, featuring a single high momentum premixed jet flame, has been investigated using laser diagnostics in an optically accessible combustion chamber at a pressure of 8 bar. The model combustor was designed as a large single eccentric nozzle main burner (Ø 40 mm) together with an adjoining pilot burner and was operated with natural gas. To gain insight into the flame stabilization mechanisms with and without piloting, simultaneous particle image velocimetry (PIV) and OH laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) measurements have been performed at numerous two-dimensional (2D) sections of the flame. Additional OH-LIF measurements without PIV particles were analyzed quantitatively resulting in absolute OH concentrations and temperature fields. The flow field looks rather similar for both the unpiloted and the piloted cases, featuring a large recirculation zone next to the high momentum jet. However, flame shape and position change drastically. For the unpiloted case, the flame is lifted and widely distributed. Isolated flame kernels are found at the flame root in the vicinity of small-scale vortices. For the piloted flame, on the other hand, both pilot and main flame are attached to the burner base plate, and flame stabilization seems to take place on much smaller spatial scales with a connected flame front and no isolated flame kernels. The single-shot analysis gives rise to the assumption that for the unpiloted case, small-scale vortices act like the pilot burner flow in the opposed case and constantly impinge and ignite the high momentum jet at its root.

Reaction-time-resolved measurements of laser-induced fluorescence in a shock tube with a single laser pulse.

Shock tubes allow for the study of ultra-fast gas-phase reactions on the microsecond time scale. Because the repetition rate of the experiments is low, it is crucial to gain as much information as possible from each individual measurement. While reaction-time-resolved species concentration and temperature measurements with fast absorption methods are established, conventional laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) measurements with pulsed lasers provide data only at a single reaction time. Therefore, fluorescence methods have rarely been used in shock-tube diagnostics. In this paper, a novel experimental concept is presented that allows reaction-time-resolved LIF measurements with one single laser pulse using a test section that is equipped with several optical ports. After the passage of the shock wave, the reactive mixture is excited along the center of the tube with a 266-nm laser beam directed through a window in the end wall of the shock tube. The emitted LIF signal is collected through elongated sidewall windows and focused onto the entrance slit of an imaging spectrometer coupled to an intensified CCD camera. The one-dimensional spatial resolution of the measurement translates into a reaction-time-resolved measurement while the species information can be gained from the spectral axis of the detected two-dimensional image. Anisole pyrolysis was selected as the benchmark reaction to demonstrate the new apparatus.

On determining the fraction of metastable ions produced by direct ionization

Laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) on metastable ions is a powerful tool in studying wave-particle interactions, velocity-space diffusion and other phenomena in plasmas under the proper conditions. However, measurements which probe particle interactions place restrictions on the metastable lifetime. Metastable states are produced both from direct ionization of neutral gas particles and ions in other electronic states, but the former metastable population will only faithfully represent processes which act on the ion dynamics in a time shorter than the metastable lifetime. A numerical simulation is performed to study the metastable lifetime effects using a Lagrangian approach for LIF. A theoretical model in determining the fraction of metastable ions produced from direct ionization is reported to provide corrections to the LIF measurements.

Confocal laser induced fluorescence with comparable spatial localization to the conventional method.

We present measurements of ion velocity distributions obtained by laser induced fluorescence (LIF) using a single viewport in an argon plasma. A patent pending design, which we refer to as the confocal fluorescence telescope, combines large objective lenses with a large central obscuration and a spatial filter to achieve high spatial localization along the laser injection direction. Models of the injection and collection optics of the two assemblies are used to provide a theoretical estimate of the spatial localization of the confocal arrangement, which is taken to be the full width at half maximum of the spatial optical response. The new design achieves approximately 1.4 mm localization at a focal length of 148.7 mm, improving on previously published designs by an order of magnitude and approaching the localization achieved by the conventional method. The confocal method, however, does so without requiring a pair of separated, perpendicular optical paths. The confocal technique therefore eases the two window access requirement of the conventional method, extending the application of LIF to experiments where conventional LIF measurements have been impossible or difficult, or where multiple viewports are scarce.