Fibreoptical spatial filter velocimeter for measurement of local liquid velocity

The spatial filtering velocimetry is the basis of the new optical hydrometric measuring probe. Like a laser Doppler velocimeter, the hydrometric probe determines the velocity of tracer particles in the liquid flow. Essential parts of the hydrometric probe are a differential fibreoptical spatial filter and an illumination source. The tracer particles are imaged onto the spatial filter by a shadow projection with a parallel light beam. The hydrometric probe can be used for velocity and flow measurements in pipes and river flows. The technique permits the design of robust and low cost optical hydrometric probe which can be used for different hydrometric applications.     

Design and evaluation of high-pressure nozzle assembly for laser cutting of thick carbon steel

Laser cutting of carbon steel is extensively used across a range of industries, due to its advantage of high speed, low kerf and high quality. Currently, a 1-kW carbon dioxide (CO₂) laser with its subsonic nozzle assembly can be used only to cut steel plates up to around 10 mm. This paper aims to design and evaluate a high-pressure supersonic laser cutting nozzle assembly, which can enable a 1-kW CO₂ laser to cut steel of up to 50 mm thickness. Basic gas dynamic and compressible flow equations were used to design the supersonic nozzle assembly. The flow of the high-pressure gas jet inside the nozzle assembly was investigated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and the structural integrity of the high-pressure nozzle assembly was ensured using finite element analysis (FEA). The gas flow pattern at the exit of the nozzle assembly was computed and compared with the experimental observation made through a shadowgraph technique. Laser cutting experiments were performed with the developed supersonic nozzle assembly to demonstrate cutting of 50-mm-thick low carbon steel with 1-kW CO₂ laser.     

应用PDA测量气固两相流边界层时壁面的选择

应用激光技术测量边界层流场时需要选择合适的壁面 ,以解决壁面反射光过强和零点确定问题。通过试验 ,研究激光三维粒子动态分析仪测量湍流边界层时如何选择壁面的问题。试验结果表明 ,选择背面涂黑的玻璃壁面 ,能够很好地解决这两个问题 ,并且使测量达到一定的精度要求。     

CO2 laser pulse shortening by laser ablation of a metal target

A repeatable and flexible technique for pulse shortening of laser pulses has been applied to transversely excited atmospheric (TEA) CO(2) laser pulses. The technique involves focusing the laser output onto a highly reflective metal target so that plasma is formed, which then operates as a shutter due to strong laser absorption and scattering. Precise control of the focused laser intensity allows for timing of the shutter so that different temporal portions of the pulse can be reflected from the target surface before plasma formation occurs. This type of shutter enables one to reduce the pulse duration down to ~2 ns and to remove the low power, long duration tails that are present in TEA CO(2) pulses. The transmitted energy is reduced as the pulse duration is decreased but the reflected power is ~10 MW for all pulse durations. A simple laser heating model verifies that the pulse shortening depends directly on the plasma formation time, which in turn is dependent on the applied laser intensity. It is envisaged that this plasma shutter will be used as a tool for pulse shaping in the search for laser pulse conditions to optimize conversion efficiency from laser energy to useable extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation for EUV source development.     

Experimental research on the optimization of precision electrochemical machining feed mode of diamond-hole grille

Underwater laser machining process is a promising method to cut materials with less thermal damage. A variation of underwater technique is overflow-assisted laser ablation. This process can introduce a higher thermal convection and more uniform water layer than the typical underwater method. Such characteristics can encourage the damage-free fabrication and also stabilize the laser ablation in water. In this study, cut profile and temperature distribution of workpiece induced by the overflow technique were investigated. Titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) used as a work sample was grooved by a nanosecond pulse laser under different overflow conditions. The effects of laser power, laser repetition rate, and water flow velocity were experimentally and numerically examined. A clean and smooth cut surface can be fabricated when the overflow technique was used. Microcracks and porosities found on the laser-ablated area were also addressed in this study. The temperature field of titanium alloy under the different ablation conditions was simulated by using the finite difference computation. The transient heat conduction model was implemented together with the enthalpy method and temperature-dependent material properties. By using the developed model, the groove depths obtained from the experiment and simulation were in a good agreement.     

高灵敏度腔增强吸收式乙炔气体检测系统

基于超窄线宽激光特性和光源波长扫描技术,构建了高灵敏度腔增强吸收式乙炔气体检测系统。该系统采用超窄线宽可调谐半导体激光器作光源,使用两块高反射率平凹透镜组成的光学谐振腔作吸收池,通过扫描腔长使入射激光频率与谐振腔模式相匹配,利用激光失谐技术快速断开入射激光,从而实现对微量乙炔气体浓度的衰荡测量。利用腔增强吸收技术测得了激光衰荡时间和6 518.824 cm^-1附近的乙炔弱吸收光谱并进行了分析。结果表明,乙炔气体浓度线性相关系数优于0.999,最大相对误差小于2.5%,极限检测灵敏度为2×10^-6;逐次充入一定体积的乙炔气体,动态响应时间均小于10 s。该检测系统精确度好、灵敏度高,具有较好的动态响应特性,可用于电力变压器故障气体实时在线监测。     

用超临界流体溶喷技术制造墨粉的构想

提出了用CO2超临界流体作溶剂,采用溶喷技术制造复印机用或激光打印机用墨粉的方法.利用超临界流体对有机材料的强溶解性能,将树脂、颜料及电荷控制剂等全部或部分溶解在CO2超临界流体中,用搅拌方法使未溶部分均匀悬浮在含有溶质的超临界流体中,然后用瞬间喷雾方法获得墨粉粒子.依此方法制造的墨粉,形貌近似于球形,具粒度均匀、无表面污染等优点,与传统的机械法及化学聚合法相比,具有节能、节水、无环境污染、生产成本低等优点,将成为大规模生产墨粉的新方法.     

Online measurement and correction of post-weld shift in laser welding packaging for laser diodes

In order to measure and correct post-weld shift (PWS) which is inherent in the laser welding packaging process for laser diodes, a novel method based on strain gauges was proposed to perform online measurement of the welding shift in real time. This method can measure micro-displacement caused by laser welding in two directions with submicrometer accuracy. The direction and magnitude of PWS can be determined from measurement results, and then correction welding is applied to compensate the PWS in prescribed direction. The measurement system was established and experiments of laser welding, PWS measurement, and correction for specially designed laser diode packaging assembly are conducted. Experimental results show that the proposed method is able to measure the PWS accurately in real time, and the coupling light power can be regained to over 90% of the power before welding with laser hammering technique according to measurement results. With advantages of low cost, comparable accuracy, and real-time measurement, the proposed method will be very useful for improving the packaging productivity and performance for widely used transistor outline (TO)-Can style laser diodes.     

超快激光在纳米溶液中的超连续光丝光谱技术

为了产生宽谱带超连续白光光谱,将飞秒激光聚焦到纳米溶液中形成光丝,最终产生出400～950 nm的超连续白光光谱。采用集成CCD的显微镜装置对伴随光丝的气泡进行拍摄,并研究了气泡定向运动的规律。计算表明,气泡的运动速度可以达到0.16 m/s,这表明水流也可以达到相应的速度。这种由光丝导致的高速水流,可对微流控技术的研究起到积极的作用。     

激光速在视觉检测中的标定方法研究

计算机视觉检测技术在测绘、工业、军事、导航等领域已得到广泛的应用。而标定是视觉检测的关键技术之一。本文介绍一种用激光束对系统进行标定的新方法，即将激光器发出的平行光束投射到被测物表面上的光斑作为标定物，通过采集光斑图像并对图像进行预处理，包括噪声处理、图像分割技术等得到光斑图像，最后计算出图像象素与实际尺寸的对应关系。该方法能够在不便于或者不能使用常规标准件法的环境下进行快速标定。试验结果验证了该方法在一定精度下的稳定性和可用性。     

Simultaneous confocal recording of multiple fluorescent labels with improved channel separation

Confocal microscopes are often used to study specimens labelled with fluorophores. A commonly used method for simultaneous recording of the distribution of multiple fluorophores is to divide the fluorescent light emitted by the specimen into different wavelength regions using dichroic and bandpass filters. These different wavelength regions are then distributed to multiple detectors. However, the broad and overlapping spectra of commonly used fluorophores often result in considerable crosstalk between channels. A new technique, intensity-modulated multiple-beam scanning (IMS) microfluorometry, can be used to reduce this cross-talk substantially. The IMS technique is implemented with two laser beams of different wavelengths, intensity-modulated at different frequencies, which illuminate the specimen simultaneously. The two laser wavelengths predominantly excite one fluorophore each. Fluorescent light from the specimen is divided into two wavelength regions (red and green) which are detected by two photomultiplier tubes. The output signals from the photomultiplier tubes are connected to lock-in amplifiers. The effect of using modulated laser beams, in combination with lock-in amplifiers, is strongly to reduce cross-talk between the channels. The performance of the IMS technique using various types of specimen is compared with the results obtained using the conventional multi-detector method.     

Straigtness measurement using a heterodyne moiré method

Optical heterodyne interferometry is a new interference technique, allowing quick and accurate measurements of dimension. A similar technique can determine the fringe phase of the moiré method as intensity is modulated by movement of the reference grating. The phase difference between certain points in the moiré pattern is detected automatically.The interference fringes generated by laser are used to measure straightness. Small displacement of fringes is detected with the heterodyne moiré method. Generally, beam flutter caused by air disturbance becomes a serious problem in systems using long beam paths, though it can be reduced by controlling the air flow.     

High second harmonic generation signal from muscles and fascia pig's muscles using the two-photon laser scanning microscope

I have provided update to our two photon laser scanning microscope by adding new technique which enables us to simultaneously measured the second harmonic generation signals in the forward and backward directions; in the meantime, one can measure the two photon excitations fluorescence if the materials produce fluorescence. In the present work, the fascia muscles, muscles of pig and pig's skin were used. I found that these materials produced high second harmonic generation signal in both directions. These measurements show that the second harmonic generation strongly depends on the state of the polarization of the laser light and the orientation of the dipole moment in the molecules that interact with the laser light. It is therefore advantageous to control the laser's state of polarization, to maximize second harmonic generation. The novelty of this work is to establish new multi-functional technique by combing three platforms of laser scanning microscopy – the fluorescence microscopy, harmonic generation microscopy and polarizing microscopy in which one can use the second harmonic imaging to investigate the true architecture of the sensitive samples and the samples which do not produce auto-fluorescence. Moreover investigation of the new sample needs to look at all details of the true architecture of the sample. Thereby the sample will be exposed to the laser radiation more than the well-known sample, and that will cause photo-bleaching and photo-damage. Since the second harmonic generation does not undergo from photo-bleaching and photo-damage it will be the promising technique for investigating the sensitive and new samples. Then one can move to acquire fluorescence images after good investigation of the true architecture of the sample by the SH imaging.     

Ancillary device for flow rate measurement using dye tracer technique

Dye tracer technique is a successful tool for measuring liquid flow in closed conduits and open channels. The technique is based on the continuous injection of a tracer into the flow and on the measurement of the dilution ratio. As one of the requirements, the tracer injection rate must be known and well controlled. A device was designed to obtain this control. Such device implements a volumetric flow measurement technique and provides accurate digital display readout. Experimental results indicate that the apparatus can be used to measure the injection flow rate in a range from 235 to 2000 ml min⁻¹ with a relative error smaller than 1.5% of the reading. Even with these low injection flow, the dilution method can be applied to determine the much higher flow rates typically found in domestic or industrial outfalls as well as in artificial or natural channels. This paper also presents an application of the dilution method to flow rate measurement of an industrial outfall and the uncertainty analysis associated with the obtained values. The results indicate that the main errors of discharge estimation can arise from non-steady state flow conditions, incomplete tracer mixing, uncertainty of tracer concentration and tracer injection rate measurements.     

Laser ion source with a double pulse laser system

To extend an ion beam pulse of a laser ion source, multiple laser shots could be used. To check the feasibility of this idea, we tested double laser irradiations on an iron target. When the interval of the two laser shots is longer than 10 μs, the obtained ion current profile was expressed as a sum of two individual expanded laser plasmas. However, if the interval is too close, a current reduction was observed. This technique can be effectively applied to low charge state ion production.     

Novel Method for Spatial Angle Measurement Based on Rotating Planar Laser Beams

Spatial angle measurement,especially the measurement of horizontal and vertical angle,is a basic method used for industrial large-scale coordinate measurement.As main equipments in use,both theodolites and laser trackers can provide very high accuracy for spatial angle measurement.However,their industrial applications are limited by low level of automation and poor parallelism.For the purpose of improving measurement efficiency,a lot of studies have been conducted and several alternative methods have been proposed.Unfortunately,all these means are either low precision or too expensive.In this paper,a novel method of spatial angle measurement based on two rotating planar laser beams is proposed and demonstrated.Photoelectric receivers placed on measured points are used to receive the rotating planner laser signals transmitted by laser transmitters.The scanning time intervals of laser planes were measured,and then measured point's horizontal/vertical angles can be calculated.Laser plane's angle parameters are utilized to establish the abstract geometric model of transmitter.Calculating formulas of receiver's horizontal/vertical angles have been derived.Measurement equations' solvability conditions and judgment method of imaginary solutions are also presented after analyzing.Proposed method for spatial angle measurement is experimentally verified through a platform consisting of one laser transmitter and one optical receiver.The transmitters used in new method are only responsible for providing rotating light plane signals carrying angle information.Receivers automatically measure scanning time of laser planes and upload data to the workstation to calculate horizontal angle and vertical angle.Simultaneous measurement of multiple receivers can be realized since there is no human intervention in measurement process.Spatial angle measurement result indicates that the repeatable accuracy of new method is better than 10".Proposed method can improve measurement's automation degree and speed while ensuring measurement accuracy.     

Laser mass-spectrometry for online diagnosis of reactive plasmas with many species

The purpose of this study is to design a diagnostic system for reactive plasma environment by combining molecular-beam time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectroscopy with laser spectroscopy technique. The combination of TOF mass spectrometers and pulsed lasers is favorable in the diagnosis of intermediate species distribution since they allow the simultaneous but separate recording of the spectra of different species. In the plasma system, the intermediate species in electronic ground state or low lying excited state is pumped to higher energy level with resonant laser excitation, and then, the ionization with a second laser system is possible which can readily be detected by the TOF analyzer. The ionization itself is only used as a detection mechanism for the observation of the excitation of these states. In this manner, the population distribution of intermediate species can be determined with state-selective and mass-selective feature. Also, in this article, a flexible data acquisition and automatic control system based on LABVIEW was designed to integrate all the stand-alone measurement instruments including a TOF spectrometer, a laser system, a high performance oscilloscope, and a digital delay generator into a single personal computer-based control unit. Moreover, a virtual Boxcar integrator with hundreds of channels has been developed to enhance the signal while filtering out the random noises. Finally, the many potentials of this technique in the application of plasma diagnosis will be discussed.     

Simultaneous measurement on gas concentration and particle mass concentration by tunable diode laser

The method of simultaneous measurement on gas concentration and particle mass concentration by tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy is developed. The method is validated using a 1.58 μm diode laser with wavelength modulation spectroscopy. The experimental environment of particulated gas flow is imitated by adding uniform-sized quart sands into CO₂ gas. Calibrated second harmonic signals are proved to be independent of particle effects but only depend on gas concentration, and particle mass concentration can be calculated from the attenuation of laser power. This technique would be helpful to improve the quality and applicability of tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy in emission monitoring.     

Fe modeling of the apparent spot technique in circular laser hardening

Circular laser hardening is the laser surface treatment used in the case of cylindrical workpieces. The single-track treatment is a particular case of circular laser hardening used when only one revolution of the workpiece is executed since the treatment of a narrow surface is required. As a result, an annular narrow hardening track is obtained. During the laser hardening, the initial and final parts of the workpiece are overlapped and treated twice. The main drawback of this treatment is the back-tempering effect focused on the overlapping zone. This phenomenon leads to a hardness decrease in the overlapping zone. To avoid this problem, a new technique called apparent spot (AS) was introduced by the authors. The aim of the AS technique is to increase in a fictitious way the dimensions of the laser spot. In the case of circular laser hardening, this technique results into a high-speed rotation (up to 1,000 rpm) of the cylindrical workpiece instead of the traditional low speed. So, a uniform hardening zone without overlapping and back tempering is obtained. However, despite these benefits, there is still a lack of knowledge about the physics of this treatment in particular referring to the thermal cycle that affects the workpiece. In order to enhance the knowledge of this technique in this work, the AS was modeled via the FE approach. DEFORM software was used to model the circular laser hardening process. The software was firstly validated by a comparison with experimental results. Once the software reliability was tested, a regression model was estimated to predict the surface temperature within the treatments. Good agreement was found between the prediction model and the numerical results.     

An optically pumped XeF(C-A) laser with repetitive rate of 10 Hz

A novel XeF(C-A) laser which can be operated in repetition mode has been developed based on surface discharge optical pumping technique. Its maximum repetitive rate is up to 10 Hz. The influence of repetitive rate and gas flow rate on the stability of output energy is studied and the main factor which influences the stability of output energy is analyzed. The experimental results show that increasing the gas flow rate into laser chamber can improve the stability of the output energy. The ideal output energy results of 20 laser pulses under different repetitive rates and their optimal experimental conditions are presented. Output energies of more than 4 J and better stability can be obtained when the laser device operates at 1, 2, and 5 Hz, respectively. When the gas feed rate is larger than 53 l/s, the stability of output energy is improved obviously at the repetitive rate of 10 Hz, and the average energy of 20 laser pulses is up to 3.2 J.