Abstract

Under terrestrial conditions laser induced diagnostic methods like laser induced fluorescence (LIF), Rayleigh, Raman or MIE scattering are well established to investigate combustion processes in model flames and technical devices. To investigate combustion processes under microgravity conditions a laser diagnostics system has been installed at drop tower Bremen [1, 2]. A tunable narrow bandwidth excimer laser is mounted at the top of the drop tower (Fig. 1). The combustion chamber and the detection and recording set-up are mounted in the drop capsule. Both, the excimer laser and the detection system operate at a rate of 250 s^-1. During the drop capsule flight of 4.7 s duration the distance between the laser source and the capsule increases to 120 m. Therefore special optics reduce the laser beam divergence.

© 2000 IEEE