Search

Mid-infrared quantum-cascade laser (QCL) absorption spectroscopy of CO near 4.2 μm has been developed for measurement of temperature and concentration in hot gases. With stronger absorption line-strengths than transitions near 1.5, 2.0, and 2.7 μm used previously, the fundamental band (001-000) of CO near 4.2 μm provides greatly enhanced sensitivity and accuracy to sense CO in high-temperature gases. Line R(74) and line R(96) are chosen as optimum pair for sensitive temperature measurements due to their high-temperature sensitivity, equal signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), weak interference of HO transitions, as well as relatively strong line-strengths in high temperature and weak absorption in room temperature. The high-resolution absorption spectrum of the far wings of the R-branch (R56-R100) in the fundamental vibrational band of CO is measured in a heated cell over the range 2,384-2,396 cm at different temperatures from 700 to 1,200 K. Taking three factors into consideration, including SNR, concentration detectability, and uncertainty sensitivity, the absorption line R(74) is selected to calculate CO concentration. The tunable QCL absorption sensor is validated in mixtures of CO and N in a static cell for temperature range of 700-1,200 K, achieving an accuracy of ±6 K for temperature and ±5 % for concentration measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on application of the atomic filter technology in a signal detection system of lidar, the diurnal observation of sodium lidar were obtained using the system at the National Space Science Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences at Beijing Yanqing station (40.5° N, 116° E) in April 2014. During the lidar observation period, among the 103 cases of continuous daytime observations, the longest time was 181 h. In the case of a continuous observation period of 5 days (13–18 October 2014), the signal-to-noise ratio reached to 19:1 at 12:00–13:00 Local Time of the daytime, when the spatial and time resolutions were respectively set to 96 m of 167 s. The improvements resulted in the highest detection level of any existing diurnal lidars in China. Some interesting phenomena such as the sporadic sodium layer have also been observed during the daytime. The daytime capability extended the observing time range of the earlier systems that were limited to only nighttime observations. This innovation provides a useful method for the studies of diurnal tides, photochemistry, gravity waves, and correlative modeling studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beijing Na–K lidar has been started running in 2010. This lidar has two laser beams: one dye laser emits a 589-nm laser beam for Na layer detection; the other dye laser emits a 770-nm laser beam for K layer detection. Under similar conditions, the echo signal of K layer is only about 2 orders of magnitude smaller than that of Na layer. This lidar has a sufficient Signal Noise Ratio (SNR). The structure and details of potassium layer can be effectively distinguished from a single original echo. Several examples of co-observation of density of Na and K layer showed some different results with previous studies. This lidar not only can supplement the lack of Na and K layer observation at this latitude region, but also provide evidence for the atmospheric sciences and space environment monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]