CO2 Laser Photoacoustic Detection of Hydrazine-Based Rocket Fuels

This report describes recent work performed at The Aerospace Corporation to determine the capability of the CO2 laser photoacoustic technique to detect the rocket fuels hydrazine, monomethylhydrazine (MMH), and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) at low parts-per-billion (ppb) levels in the ambient air in real time. These compounds are highly toxic and recent studies indicate that they may also be carcinogens. Estimates made from CO2 laser absorption cross section data determined for the hydrazines in a previous Aerospace study indicate that the hydrazines should be detectable by the CO2 laser photoacoustic technique at the desired low ppb levels even in the presence of the ambient levels of pollutants and water vapor found in urban atmospheres. To assess the validity of these hydrazine-fuel detection estimates by the CO2 laser photoacoustic technique, various laboratory photoacoustic detection systems were assembled and their minimum detectable absorptivity values were determined during the present study. The photoacoustic detection system that provided the best performance in this study possessed optically tandem sample and reference cells connected to a differential capacitance manometer. This system was designed to minimize the effects of spurious absorption at the photoacoustic cell windows.