Space- and time-resolved coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy for combustion diagnostics

The technique of coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy can be used to obtain spectra in or near the reaction zone of combustion systems with spatial resolution on the order of 0.1 mm and time resolution on the order of 10 nsec. The latter is achieved by recording the entire spectrum generated during a single laser pulse by a broadband Stokes beam, simultaneously, on a vidicon, whereas the former is achieved by a simplified variant of the crossedbeam phase-matching technique taking advantage of the radiation intensity distribution from a pump laser using an unstable resonator structure.