Single-pulse two-dimensional temperature imaging in flames by degenerate four-wave mixing and polarization spectroscopy

We introduce a novel and simple experimental arrangement for single-pulse two-dimensional temperature mapping in flames by the coherent imaging techniques, degenerate four-wave mixing and polarization spectroscopy, utilizing a dual-wavelength dye laser and a diffraction grating. Each pulse of this dye laser consists of two wavelengths which were tuned to resonance with two different rotational transitions in the Q₁ branch of the A²∑-X²∏(0, 0) band of the OH radical. A typical coherent imaging geometry where a sheet-shaped pump beam crossed an unfocused probe beam, was used. The two generated images of OH signal distributions were spatially separated by a diffraction grating and simultaneously detected on a single CCD chip. The two-dimensional single-pulse temperature map was extracted from these images. The precision of the methods is examined and a comparison between degenerate four-wave mixing and polarization spectroscopy is made.