Kinetics of Metastable Argon Optical Excitation and Gain in Ar/He Microplasmas.

The optically pumped rare-gas metastable laser is capable of high-intensity lasing on a broad range of near-infrared transitions for excited-state rare gas atoms (Ar*, Kr*, Ne*, Xe*) diluted in flowing He. The lasing action is generated by photoexcitation of the metastable atom to an upper state, followed by collisional energy transfer with He to a neighboring state and lasing back to the metastable state. The metastables are generated in a high-efficiency electric discharge at pressures of ∼0.4 to 1 atm. The diode-pumped rare-gas laser (DPRGL) is a chemically inert analogue to diode-pumped alkali laser (DPAL) systems, with similar optical and power scaling characteristics for high-energy laser applications. We used a continuous-wave linear microplasma array in Ar/He mixtures to produce Ar(1s5) (Paschen notation) metastables at number densities exceeding 1013 cm-3. The gain medium was optically pumped by both a narrow-line 1 W titanium-sapphire laser and a 30 W diode laser. Tunable diode laser absorption and gain spectroscopy determined Ar(1s5) number densities and small-signal gains up to ∼2.5 cm-1. Continuous-wave lasing was observed using the diode pump laser. The results were analyzed with a steady-state kinetics model relating the gain and the Ar(1s5) number density.

Production and loss of O2(1Δ g ) at atmospheric pressure using microwave-driven microplasmas.

We have used arrays of microwave-generated microplasmas operating at atmospheric pressure to generate high concentrations of singlet molecular oxygen, O2(1Δ g ), which is of interest for biomedical applications. The discharge is sustained by a pair of microstrip-based microwave resonator arrays which force helium/oxygen gas mixtures through a narrow plasma channel. We have demonstrated the efficacy of both NO and less-hazardous N2O additives for suppression of ozone and associated enhancement of the O2(1Δ g ) yield. Quenching of O2(1Δ g ) by ozone is sufficiently suppressed such that quenching by ground state molecular oxygen becomes the dominant loss mechanism in the post-discharge outflow. We verified the absence of other significant gas-phase quenching mechanisms by measuring the O2(1Δ g ) decay along a quartz flow tube. These measurements indicated a first-order rate constant of (1.2 ± 0.3) × 10-24 m3 s-1, slightly slower than but consistent with prior measurements of singlet oxygen quenching on ground state oxygen. The discharge-initiated reaction mechanisms and data analysis are discussed in terms of a chemical kinetics model of the system.

Quantum cascade laser sensor for SO2 and SO3 for application to combustor exhaust streams.

We have demonstrated a high-sensitivity, room-temperature quantum-cascade (QC) laser sensor for detection of SO2 and SO3 under conditions relevant to aircraft test combustor exhaust. Two QC lasers probe infrared absorption features at 7.50 and 7.16 microm for SO2 and SO3, respectively, with a common dual-beam detection system. We inferred a noise-equivalent absorbance of approximately 1 x 10(-4) Hz(-1/2). We have demonstrated detection limits for both SO2 and SO3 of 1-2 ppmv m/Hz(1/2) (where ppmv is parts in 10(6) by volume) for 300 torr, elevated temperature, and path lengths near 1 m. This level of sensitivity permits measurement of < 1 ppmv of SO2 and SO3 at these conditions with modest signal averaging.