Nonequilibrium concentrations of the vibrationally excited OH radical in a methane flame measured by cavity ring-down spectroscopy

Investigation of spatially resolved spectra of OH and N2+ in N2 and H2O mixture wire-plate positive pulsed streamer discharge

Optical emission spectroscopy has been applied to study the spatially resolved measurements of the emission intensities of OH (A(2)Sigma-->X(2)Pi, 0-0) and N(2)(+) (B(2)Sigma(u)(+)-->X(2)Sigma(g)(+), 0-0, 391.4 nm) produced by a high-voltage positive pulsed streamer discharge consisting of a gas mixture of N(2) and H(2)O in a wire-plate reactor under severe electromagnetic interference at atmospheric pressure. The effects of pulse peak voltage, pulse repetition rate, and the added O(2) flow rate on the spatial distributions of the emission intensity of OH (A(2)Sigma-->X(2)Pi, 0-0) and N(2)(+) (B(2)Sigma(u)(+)-->X(2)Sigma(g)(+), 0-0, 391.4 nm) in the lengthwise direction (direction from wire to plate) are investigated. It has been found that the emission intensities of OH (A(2)Sigma-->X(2)Pi, 0-0) and N(2)(+) (B(2)Sigma(u)(+)-->X(2)Sigma(g)(+), 0-0, 391.4 nm) rise with an increase in both pulse peak voltage and pulse repetition rate and decrease with an increase in oxygen flows added in an N(2) and H(2)O gas mixture. The emission intensity of OH (A(2)Sigma-->X(2)Pi, 0-0) decreases with increasing the distance from the wire electrode. The emission intensity of N(2)(+) (B(2)Sigma(u)(+)-->X(2)Sigma(g)(+), 0-0, 391.4 nm) is nearly constant at 0-4mm from wire electrode, and sharply increases near the ground electrode. The vibrational temperature of N(2) (C) increases with increasing O(2) flows and keeps almost constant in the lengthwise direction under the present experimental conditions. The main physicochemical processes involved are also discussed in this paper.

Optical study of OH radical in a wire-plate pulsed corona discharge

In this study, the emission spectra of OH (A2sigma --> X2pi, 0-0) emitted from the high-voltage pulsed corona discharge (HVPCD) of N2 and H2O mixture gas and humid air in a wire-plate reactor were successfully recorded against a severe electromagnetic interference coming from HVPCD at one atmosphere. The relative vibrational populations and the vibrational temperature of N2 (C, v') were determined. The emission spectra of the deltaupsilon = +1 (1-0, 2-1, 3-2, 4-3) vibration transition band of N2 (C3pi(u) --> B3pi(g)) is simulated through gauss distribution. The emission intensity of OH (A2sigma --> X2pi, 0-0) has been exactly gotten by subtracting the emission intensity of the deltaupsilon = +1 vibration transition band of N2 (C3pi(u) --> B3pi(g)) from the overlapping spectra. The relative population of OH (A2sigma) has been obtained by the emission intensity of OH (A2sigma --> X2pi, 0-0) and Einstein's transition probability. The influences of pulsed peak voltage and pulse repetition rate on the relative population of OH (A2sigma) radicals in N2 and H2O mixture gas and humid air are investigated separately. It is found that the relative population of OH (A2sigma) rises linearly with increasing the applied peak voltage and the pulse repetition rate. When the oxygen is added in N2 and H2O mixture gas, the relative population of OH (A2sigma) radicals decreases exponentially with increasing the added oxygen. The main involved physicochemical processes have also been discussed.

Absorption and scattering characterization of airborne microparticulates by a cavity ringdown technique

Nonresonant cavity ringdown laser absorption spectroscopy (CRLAS) was applied for detection and characterization of airborne particulates. Sensitive detection of a variety of aerosols under ambient conditions was achieved. The method provides, for the first time, time-resolved absolute aerosol concentration, with spatial resolution (along a line). The first report on absorption spectroscopy of monodispersed aerosols (in the size range 100-200 nm) is provided, and comparisons are made with the bulk data. The results indicate the possibility of applying CRLAS for selective analysis of aerosols. A new method for estimating the aerosol refraction index is also obtained from the ringdown data.

Measurements of OH radicals in a low-power atmospheric inductively coupled plasma by cavity ringdown spectroscopy

Cavity ringdown spectroscopy is applied to line-of-sight measurements of OH radicals in an atmospheric-pressure argon inductively coupled plasma, operating at low power (200 W) and low gas flows (approximately 18 liters/min). Density populations of the single S21(1) rotational line in the OH A2sigma(+)-X2Pi (0-0) band are extracted from the measured line-of-sight absorbance. Plasma gas kinetic temperatures, derived from the recorded line shapes of the S21(1) line, ranged from 1858 to 2000 K with an average uncertainty of 10%. Assuming local thermodynamic equilibrium, an assumption supported by the comparison of the experimental and simulated spectra, the spatially averaged total OH number density at different observation heights was determined to be in the range of 1.7 x 10(20)-8.5 x 10(20) (m(-3)) with the highest OH density in the plasma tail. This work demonstrates that ringdown spectra of the OH radical may be used both as a thermometer for high-temperature environments and as a diagnostic tool to probe the thermodynamic properties of plasmas.