Two-dimensional imaging of soot volume fraction in laminar diffusion flames.

A technique for acquiring two-dimensional soot-volume-fraction measurements in laminar flames has been demonstrated. The technique provides a map of very low noise concentration over a range of wavelengths (250-1100 nm). A noise level of 0.0007 in extinction and a spatial resolution of 30-40 microm for soot concentration were achieved with an arc lamp source that was filtered to provide greater spatial coherence and a CCD detector. The broadband arc lamp source also allowed us to avoid the added noise resulting from speckle with coherent laser sources. Beam steering, due to refractive-index gradients in the flame, was measured and compared with theoretical predictions. The optical arrangement to minimize the effect of beam steering is described. As a result the beam steering had no effect on the soot measurements in the flames examined. Flame-transmission maps obtained with this system in an ethylene/air laminar diffusion flame are presented. Tomographic analysis from use of an Abel inversion of the line-of-sight data to obtain radial profiles of soot concentration is described.

Nonlinearity and image persistence of P-20 phosphor-based intensified photodiode array detectors used in CARS spectroscopy.

Several self-scanning photodiode arrays (IPDA) used for CARS spectroscopy are shown to exhibit a greater image persistence than has generally been realized, and to exhibit a falloff in sensitivity that is logarithmic with decreasing output signal. These effects are attributed to the P-20 phosphor based intensifiers used in the IPDAs and are probably generic to all such detectors. A strategy for minimizing the image persistence in CARS spectroscopy is presented. A prototype detector incorporating a much faster rare earth phosphor is evaluated and shown to be more suited to single pulse CARS measurements in turbulent combustion than the IPDAs incorporating P-20 phosphors.

Effect of detector nonlinearity and image persistence on CARS derived temperatures.

The image persistence of self-scanning photodiode arrays (IPDA) incorporating P-20 phosphor-based intensifiers is shown to make them unsuitable for single-pulse CARS temperature measurements in turbulent combustion. Correcting CARS flame spectra for the nonlinear response of the IPDA detectors increases CARS derived temperatures approximately 3-6%. This error is partially offset by correcting for the perturbations in the N(2) vibrational population resulting from stimulated Raman pumping. The effect of these population perturbations on CARS-derived temperatures is determined. CARS flame spectra obtained with uncorrelated pump beams that are corrected for IPDA nonlinearity and stimulated Raman pumping are shown to give temperatures in good agreement with combined thermocouple/sodium line-reversal measurements.

Precision of multiplex CARS temperatures using both single-mode and multimode pump lasers.

The noise level in single-pulse resonant nitrogen CARS spectra is shown to decrease with increasing pump laser bandwidth. This is the reverse of the trend observed for nonresonant CARS spectra. The precision of single-pulse CARS temperature measurements is shown to be dramatically increased by performing a weighted fit of theoretical and experimental CARS spectra using the measured detector noise coefficients as weighting parameters. The inclusion of collisional narrowing and cross-coherence in the CARS theory calculations and their effect on best fit temperatures are discussed. These temperatures, measured in a flat-flame burner, are compared with those obtained by Na line-reversal.

Noise characteristics of single-shot broadband CARS signals.

Spectrally resolved measurements of noise in resonant nitrogen coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS) are presented for three pump laser bandwidths. The experimental noise curves are compared with those calculated from a simple model involving statistically independent Stokes modes. The sources of noise in both resonant and nonresonant CARS spectra are discussed.