Date of Award

9-15-2012

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Department of Engineering Physics

First Advisor

Glen P. Perram, PhD.

Abstract

A field deployable, tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) device fiber coupled to a pair of 12.5" Ritchey-Chretien telescopes was used to study atmospheric propagation for open path lengths of 100 m to 1,000 m to estimate atmospheric transmission at key High Energy Laser (HEL) wavelengths. The potassium (K) version of the Diode Pumped Alkali Laser (DPAL) operates in between two of the sharp oxygen rotational features in the PP and the PQ branches. Initial experiments were performed in the vicinity of molecular oxygen X3Σ-g to b1Σ+g electronic transition lines near the potassium emission line at 770 nm. More than 50 rotational lines in the molecular oxygen A-band X3Σ-g to b1Σ+g transition near 760 nm were observed. Temperatures were determined from the Boltzmann rotational distribution to within 1.3% (less than 2 K). Oxygen concentration was obtained from the integrated spectral area of the absorption features to within 1.6% (less than 0.04 x 1018 molecules / cm3). Pressure was determined independently from the pressure-broadened Voigt lineshapes to within 10%.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-ENP-DS-12-D-07

DTIC Accession Number

ADA574766

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