Abstract

Sensitive techniques are needed for the detection of highly corrosive gas-phase alkali compounds in the combustion of coal gas to drive gas turbines. It has been suggested¹ that photofragment fluorescence, i.e., the observation of electronically excited photofragments from the photodissociation of the parent compound at suitably short ultraviolet wavelengths, would be a practical diagnostic technique. A recent investigation² of the photodissociation of gas-phase sodium and potassium chlorides to produce excited alkali atoms has shown that the photofragment fluorescence technique can measure these compounds at concentrations down to sub-part-per-billion levels and is linear over at least six orders of magnitude. The photodissociation of other gas-phase alkali compounds has not been previously investigated.

© 1987 Optical Society of America