This talk will discuss efforts to image pressures, temperatures, and chemical species in post-detonation environments. The talk will focus on applications of high-speed imaging to understanding the mechanisms of energy release in the explosive near-field, and the approach to chemical freeze-out in simulations of explosions.
An overview of various plume diagnostic tools used for characterizing the explosion events and laser-produced plasmas will be presented. Details of optical spectroscopic (emission, absorption and fluorescence) and imaging for obtaining plume fundamentals, isotopic information, hydrodynamics, internal structures, shock propagation, turbulence etc. will be presented.
I will present a review of the current state of the art of spectroscopic methods for measuring temperature and chemical species at high temperatures and pressures. I will show measurement results from various experimental platforms including shock tubes, flow reactors, laser-ablation plumes, and high-pressure optical cells.
A fast temperature diagnostic for time-resolved measurements in harsh environments based on an acousto-optically modulated quantum cascade laser is demonstrated in shock-heated mixtures of carbon monoxide. The temperature measurements made with this system are largely insensitive to beam steering noise.