Real-Time Tomography of Gas-Jets with a Wollaston Interferometer

Multi-pass probing for high-sensitivity tomographic interferometry

Optical probing is an indispensable tool in research and development. In fact, it has always been the most natural way for humankind to explore nature. However, objects consisting of transparent materials with a refractive index close to unity, such as low-density gas jets, are a typical example of samples that often reach the sensitivity limits of optical probing techniques. We introduce an advanced optical probing method employing multiple passes of the probe through the object to increase phase sensitivity, and relay-imaging of the object between individual passes to preserve spatial resolution. An interferometer with four-passes was set up and the concept was validated by tomographic characterization of low-density supersonic gas jets. The results show an evident increase of sensitivity, which allows for the accurate quantitation of fine features such as a shock formed by an obstacle or a barrel shock on the jet boundary in low ambient gas pressures. Despite its limitations in temporal resolution, this novel method has demonstrated an increase in phase sensitivity in transmission, however, it can also be employed to boost the absorption or polarization contrast of weakly interacting objects in both transmission and reflection setups, thus, upgrading the sensitivity of various optical characterization methods.

Pitot probe response for pulsed supersonic gas flow characterization in beam profile monitor

For beam profile measurement of high-intensity proton beams in the low-energy high-intensity proton accelerator at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, a recent noninvasive technique based on gas sheets will be explored. The gas sheet for this instrument needs to be characterized for calibration and fine tuning of the sheet properties to provide better profile measurements. Pulsed sheet generators for similar applications have been characterized using movable vacuum chambers with a small slit and a gauge mounted inside. Pitot probes are more compact instruments and have been used to measure gas jet profiles in molecular beam applications where the jet was not pulsed. The performance of Pitot probes in the measurement of pulsed supersonic gas flow in vacuum was, therefore, investigated in this work. A test system was developed to generate a pulsed supersonic gas jet in vacuum, and a Pitot probe was inserted into the flow at various axial locations with respect to the nozzle. Measurements taken along the nozzle axis using this probe, as well as the axial Mach number and impact pressure computed using computational fluid dynamics and direct simulation Monte Carlo algorithms, were compared with fitting formulas. Schlieren images of the jet with and without the Pitot tube were also taken under different vacuum conditions.

Imaging Michelson interferometer for a low-density gas jet characterization

A new optical probing method with increased interferometric sensitivity for a low-density gas jet characterization is presented. The proposed technique employs a Michelson interferometer with a self-imaging object arm, which enables the relay imaging of the object on itself, and in this way, the phase sensitivity of the device is increased by a double propagation of the object laser beam through the gas jet. The wavelength of 405 nm was chosen to further increase the sensitivity by increasing the probe wavenumber. A low-density argon gas jet with various backing pressures was characterized by our method and by a commonly used Mach-Zehnder interferometer setup showing the expected twofold increase in the signal to noise ratio in the double pass configuration.