Precise spatial and time-resolved diagnostics by poly laserverstrooing of an atmospheric plasma that interacts with porous materials and liquid media

The project is focused on development of new high space and time resolved technique of temperature and density measurement in plasmas by means of pulsed laser scattering. The main goal is to construct detection system with resolution up to U+F06Dm based on the Rayleigh, Raman and Thomson scattering of the laser light by heavy particles and electrons. Active laser spectroscopy, in contrast to widely used plasma emission spectroscopy, has direct access to ground state species and electrons and does not required complicated interpretation of the experimental data.Moreover, the Raman and Thomson spectroscopy which is possible with the same pulsed laser allows estimating density of neutral species and electrons. The main application of the proposed laser system is a measurement of the temperatures and species distribution in atmospheric plasmas interacting with polymers and liquids in vicinity of the treated materials. Such plasmas are characterized by small size up to 10-15 mm and temperature gradient up to 104 K/mm where high space resolution, as a crucial requirement, only achievable by the active laser spectroscopy. Results of the project will provide a deep insight into physical processes of atmospheric pressure plasma and will give possibility to optimize plasma parameters in order to avoid substrate damage. The whole project is supposed to be carried out at the Department of Applied Physics at UGent using the currently available as well as requested equipment.