Thermal grating velocimetry

Mid-Infrared Generated Laser-Induced Grating Signals in Methane-Containing Gas Mixtures as Indicators of Composition, Pressure, and Temperature

The present work is aimed at studying how spatially periodic modulations of the refractive index of the medium, i.e., laser-induced gratings (LIGs), generated in a gas mixture containing methane (CH4) by nanosecond pulses of resonant mid-infrared laser radiation, can be used to measure various gas parameters. It is investigated to what extent the temporal profiles of the LIG signals, recorded as the power of the diffracted by LIGs continuous wave probe radiation, are specific to the composition, pressure, and temperature of a selected buffer gas. This specificity is illustrated by the LIG signal profiles recorded in the experiments in different gas mixtures under various conditions. Experimental data show that large LIG signals can be obtained even in mixtures with CH4 concentrations as low as ∼100 parts per million due to the strong absorption of the excitation light and subsequent rapid, highly exothermic, and partner-dependent collisional energy exchange of the laser-excited molecules with the environment. These two factors ensure high LIG generation efficiency by a small number of CH4 molecules and high sensitivity of signal strength and profile to variations of gas parameters.

Two-color four-wave mixing contribution to an electrostrictive laser-induced grating signal in CO2-N2 mixtures and gas diagnostics

Multiparameter determination in the gas phase using the versatile laser-induced grating (LIG) technique is a challenging task due to interdependence of observables on multiple thermodynamic parameters. In C O 2-N 2 mixtures, simultaneous determination of species concentration and gas temperature can be achieved by using an additional C O 2 concentration-dependent contribution to the LIG signal, which appears if 1064 nm pump pulses are employed. This contribution can be attributed to a direct, quasi-resonant two-color four-wave mixing (TCFWM) of the pump and probe radiations in C O 2. A detailed study of the laser power and beam polarization, as well as mixture composition, pressure, and temperature dependencies of the TCFWM intensity relative to that of the LIG signal, allowed for the formulation of analytical relations enabling simultaneous mixture composition and temperature determination.

Characterization of femtosecond laser-induced grating scattering of a continuous-wave laser light in air

Nanosecond laser-induced grating scattering/spectroscopy (LIGS) technique has been widely applied for measuring thermodynamic parameters such as temperature and pressure in gaseous and liquid media. Recently, femtosecond (fs) laser was demonstrated to induce the grating and develop the fs-LIGS technique for gas thermometry. In this work, we systematically investigated the fs-LIGS signal generation using 35 fs, 800 nm laser pulses at 1 kHz repetition rate in ambient air by varying the pump laser energies, the probe laser powers and the temporal delays between two pump laser pulses. The stability of single-shot fs-LIGS signal was studied, from which we observed that the signal intensity exhibits a significant fluctuation while the oscillation frequency shows a much better stability. A 4.5% precision of the oscillation frequency was achieved over 100 single-shot signals. By using a previously-developed empirical model, the fs-LIGS signals were fitted using nonlinear least-squares fitting method, by which crucial time constants characterizing the signal decay process were extracted and their dependences on the pump laser energy were studied. From the measured results and theoretical analysis, we found that the appropriate range of the overall pump laser energy for reliable fs-LIGS measurements is approximately located within 80 ∼ 300 μJ. The limitations on the accuracy and precision of the fs-LIGS measurements, the origin of destructive influence of plasma generation on the signal generation as well as the electrostriction contribution were also discussed. Our investigations could contribute to a better understanding of the fs-LIGS process and further applications of the technique in single-shot gas thermometry and pressure measurements in various harsh conditions.

Pressure measurement in supersonic air flow by differential absorptive laser-induced thermal acoustics

Nonintrusive, off-body flow barometry in Mach 2 airflow has been demonstrated in a large-scale supersonic wind tunnel using seedless laser-induced thermal acoustics (LITA). The static pressure of the gas flow is determined with a novel differential absorption measurement of the ultrasonic sound produced by the LITA pump process. Simultaneously, the streamwise velocity and static gas temperature of the same spatially resolved sample volume were measured with this nonresonant time-averaged LITA technique. Mach number, temperature, and pressure have 0.2%, 0.4%, and 4% rms agreement, respectively, in comparison with known free-stream conditions.

Simultaneous single-shot measurement of temperature and pressure along a one-dimensional line by use of laser-induced thermal grating spectroscopy

We report a new technique, based on laser-induced thermal grating spectroscopy (LITGS), for time- and space-resolved simultaneous measurement of temperature and pressure along a one-dimensional line. LITGS signals generated in NO2/N2 mixtures along a 5 mm line produce a time-varying image that is recorded on a streak camera. The temperature is derived with a precision of 0.3% from the streak images using a rapid Fourier method with a spatial resolution of 150 microm along the line. The principle of pressure measurement is demonstrated using a sequence of images, and a simple extension of the method to single-shot pressure measurement is discussed.

Analysis of transient-grating signals for reacting-flow applications

Single-shot transient-grating measurements for thermometry in pressurized reacting flows are examined in the context of rapid digital signal processing. Simple approaches are discussed for temperature determination and rejection of unwanted signals in real-time measurement applications. Examples of temperature data in pressurized postflame gases are presented in the form of probability-density functions (PDFs). Three contributions to the PDF half-widths are discussed. Analysis of phase-matching requirements indicates that beam steering as a result of density fluctuations affects the signal amplitude but not the grating period. Therefore, such stochastic beam deviations have little effect on the derived temperatures. Mode noise on the cw probe beam as well as linear light scattering are found to be insignificant in the frequency range of the observed transient-grating acoustic signature. Use of a single-mode laser for the pump beams is shown to enhance the signal intensity.

Common-path heterodyne laser-induced thermal acoustics for seedless laser velocimetry

We demonstrate the use of a novel technique for the detection of heterodyne laser-induced thermal acoustic signals that allows the construction of a highly stable seedless laser velocimeter. A common-path configuration is combined with quadrature detection to provide flow direction, to greatly improve robustness to misalignment and vibration, and to give reliable velocity measurement at low-flow velocities. Comparison with Pitot tube measurements in the free stream of a wind tunnel shows root-mean-square errors of 0.67 m/s over the 0-55-m/s velocity range.

Simultaneous velocimetry and thermometry of air by use of nonresonant heterodyned laser-induced thermal acoustics

Nonresonant laser-induced thermal acoustics is used with heterodyne detection to measure temperature (285-295 K) and a single component of velocity (20-150 m/s) in an atmospheric pressure, subsonic, unseeded air jet. Good agreement is found with Pitot-tube measurements of velocity (0.2% at 150 m/s and 2% at 20 m/s) and the isentropic expansion model for temperature (0.3%).

Accuracy and uncertainty of single-shot, nonresonant laser-induced thermal acoustics

We study the accuracy and uncertainty of single-shot nonresonant laser-induced thermal acoustics measurements of the speed of sound and the thermal diffusivity in unseeded atmospheric air from electrostrictive gratings as a function of the laser power settings. For low pump energies, the measured speed of sound is too low, which is due to the influence of noise on the numerical data analysis scheme. For pump energies comparable to and higher than the breakdown energy of the gas, the measured speed of sound is too high. This is an effect of leaving the acoustic limit, and instead creating finite-amplitude density perturbations. The measured thermal diffusivity is too large for high noise levels but it decreases below the predicted value for high pump energies. The pump energy where the error is minimal coincides for the speed of sound and for the thermal diffusivity measurements. The errors at this minimum are 0.03% and 1%, respectively. The uncertainties for the speed of sound and the thermal diffusivity decrease monotonically with signal intensity to 0.25% and 5%, respectively.

Temperature and flow-velocity measurements by use of laser-induced electrostrictive gratings

Light scattering from laser-induced electrostrictive gratings has been used for simultaneous, instantaneous, nonintrusive, and remote measurements of temperature and velocity in a submerged air jet. We accomplished phase-sensitive detection of scattered light by superimposing two signal beams whose frequencies were Doppler shifted by the movement of the grating. Temperatures in the range 295-600 K and flow velocities in the range 10-100 m/s were measured.

Laser-induced thermal-acoustic velocimetry with heterodyne detection

Laser-induced thermal acoustics (LITA) was used with heterodyne detection to measure simultaneously and in a single laser pulse the sound speed and flow velocity of NO>(2) -seeded air in a low-speed wind tunnel up to Mach number M =0.1 . The uncertainties of the velocity and the sound speed measurements were ~0.2 m/s and 0.5%, respectively. Measurements were obtained through a nonlinear least-squares fit to a general, analytic closed-form solution for heterodyne-detected LITA signals from thermal gratings. Agreement between theory and experiment is exceptionally good.

Beam misalignments and fluid velocities in laser-induced thermal acoustics

Beam misalignments and bulk fluid velocities can influence the time history and intensity of laser-induced thermal acoustics (LITA) signals. A closed-form analytic expression for LITA signals incorporating these effects is derived, allowing the magnitude of beam misalignment and velocity to be inferred from the signal shape. It is demonstrated how instantaneous, nonintrusive, and remote measurement of sound speed and velocity (Mach number) can be inferred simultaneously from homodyne-detected LITA signals. The effects of different forms of beam misalignment are explored experimentally and compared with theory, with good agreement, allowing the amount of misalignment to be measured from the LITA signal. This capability could be used to correct experimental misalignments and account for the effects of misalignment in other LITA measurements. It is shown that small beam misalignments have no influence on the accuracy or repeatability of sound speed measurements with LITA.