Electric Oxygen Iodine Laser Diagnostics

The primary objective of CU Aerospace’s Phase I work will be to investigate and verify advanced non-invasive diagnostic concepts that innovate and improve the capability to measure important discharge produced states of atomic oxygen and ozone under operational Electric Oxygen-Iodine Laser (EOIL) conditions. Because NO2 is sometimes used in the EOIL system to scavenge O atoms, another byproduct species of interest to measure is NO. The diagnostic tools developed will significantly enhance the understanding of this emerging hybrid laser technology. The results of the Phase I research will lay the foundation for producing calibrated, reliable, and automated diagnostics in Phase II. Efforts in Phase I will focus on modifying the experimental actinometry technique (in use in our lab) for measuring O atoms, while our team partners at Caviton and Southwest Sciences will assist CU Aerospace to select candidate methods for best measuring NO and O3, as well as possible diagnostic techniques for measuring excited states of atomic oxygen. Use of the well-calibrated COIL facility at the University of Illinois will allow these advanced concepts to be economically implemented, compared directly against less sophisticated methods, and examined in detail.