Laser-Induced Thermal Ccoustics

Citation

Cummings, Eric Bryant (1995) Laser-Induced Thermal Ccoustics. Dissertation (Ph.D.), California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/p7mb-d967. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechETD:etd-09182007-085047

Abstract

NOTE: Text or symbols not renderable in plain ASCII are indicated by [...]. Abstract is included in .pdf document. Laser-induced thermal acoustics (LITA) is a new technique for remote nonintrusive measurement of thermophysical gas properties. LITA involves forming, via opto-acoustic effects, grating-shaped perturbations of gas properties using intersecting beams from a short-pulse laser. A third beam scatters coherently into a signal beam off the perturbation grating via acousto-optical effects. The evolution of the gas perturbations modulates the scattered signal beam. Accurate values of the sound speed, transport properties, and composition of the gas can be extracted by analyzing the signal beam. An analytical expression for the spectrum, absolute magnitude, and time history of the LITA signal is derived. The optoacoustic effects of thermalization and electrostriction are treated. Finite beam-diameter, beam-duration, and thermalization-rate effects are included in the analysis. The expression accurately models experimental signals over a wide range of gas conditions. Experimental tests using LITA have been conducted on pure and [...]-seeded air and helium at pressures ranging from ~0.1 kPa-14 MPa. Carbon dioxide has been explored near its liquid-vapor critical point. Accuracies of 0.1% in sound speed measurements have been achieved in these tests. Accuracies of ~1% have been achieved in measurements of thermal diffusivity, although beam misalignment effects have typically degraded this accuracy by a factor of ~10-20. Using LITA, susceptibility spectra have been taken of approximately a femtogram of [...]. The effects of fluid motion and turbulence have been explored. LITA velocimetry has been demonstrated, in which the Doppler shift of light scattered from a flowing fluid is measured. LITA velocimetry requires no particle seeding, has a coherent signal beam, and can be applied to pulsed flows. LITA has also been applied to measure single-shot [...] or "Rayleigh scattering" spectra of a gas using a technique of wavelength-division multiplexing, called multiplex LITA. The LITA apparatus used in these tests costs about one-tenth that of many conventional laser diagnostics. Narrowband LITA measurements of the sound speed and transport properties and multiplex LITA measurements of the spectral properties of gases may be taken in a single laser shot.

Thesis Files