Femtosecond laser induced breakdown for combustion diagnostics

Abstract

The focused beam of a 100 fs, 800 nm laser is used to induce a spark in some laminar premixed air-methane flames operating with variable fuel content (equivalence ratio). The analysis of the light escaping from the plasma revealed that the Balmer hydrogen lines, Hα and Hβ, and some molecular origin emissions were the most prominent spectral features, while the CN (Β2Σ+-Χ2Σ+) band intensity was found to depend linearly with methane content, suggesting that femtosecond laser induced breakdown spectroscopy can be a useful tool for the in-situ determination and local mapping of fuel content in hydrocarbon-air combustible mixtures.