By illuminating the surface of the sample with short pulses of a laser beam, a variety of chemical and physical reaction sequences can be recorded. A research team, including researchers from the University of Gothenburg, has developed the world’s fastest single-frame laser camera, which is at least a thousand times faster than the most advanced combustion diagnostic equipment available today. The discovery is of great importance for studying the lightning combustion of hydrocarbons.

What happens to material that burns under other conditions? To explore this question, the researchers use a laser camera known as LS CUP (one-shot laser sheet compressed ultra-fast photography), which photographs the material in a two-dimensional layer. By observing the sample from the side, it is possible to see what reactions and emissions occur in time and space. Researchers used LS-CUP to study the combustion of various hydrocarbons.

12.5 billion images per second

Physicists from the University of Gothenburg, along with colleagues from the USA and Germany, have developed an ultra-fast laser camera that can produce record-breaking video at 12.5 billion images per second, at least a thousand times faster than anything available today. laser equipment. This allowed the researchers to visualize the combustion with a time resolution never before achieved.

“The more pictures are taken, the more clearly we will be able to follow the evolution of events. The combustion of hydrocarbon fuels produces nano-sized soot particles, various light phenomena, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, PAHs, which are dangerous to the environment,” says one of the researchers at the University of Gothenburg and Yogeshwar Nath Mishra presenting this research now. results in a scientific article in the journal Light: Science and Applications.

Short-lived soot particles

Hydrocarbon soot particles make up 70% of the material in interstellar space and are also an interesting nanomaterial with electronic and energy applications. Soot particles and aromatic hydrocarbons are extremely short-lived, and their lifetime is measured in nanoseconds after combustion. Combustion is characterized by extremely rapid reactions that do not repeat. Studying combustion requires ultrafast imaging techniques, which the researchers are now achieving with this new laser camera.

“Previously, problems arose when the camera was limited to a few million images per second. To produce two-dimensional images of different types of combustion, repetitive laser pulses are required which affect the combustion temperature as the laser adds energy,” says Yogeshwar Nath Mishra.

Application in many research fields

The new laser camera takes a unique picture with a laser pulse. Its imaging speed is up to 10 billion images per second and can be easily adapted to observe any type of laser-induced signal during the particle’s lifetime. Applications extend far beyond combustion research and can be widely used in physics, chemistry, biology and medicine, energy and environmental research.