Determination of the Maximum Temperature in a Non-Uniform Hot Zone by Line-of-Site Absorption Spectroscopy with a Single Diode Laser

A new algorithm for the estimation of the maximum temperature in a non-uniform hot zone by a sensor based on absorption spectrometry with a diode laser is developed. The algorithm is based on the fitting of the absorption spectrum with a test molecule in a non-uniform zone by linear combination of two single temperature spectra simulated using spectroscopic databases. The proposed algorithm allows one to better estimate the maximum temperature of a non-uniform zone and can be useful if only the maximum temperature rather than a precise temperature profile is of primary interest. The efficiency and specificity of the algorithm are demonstrated in numerical experiments and experimentally proven using an optical cell with two sections. Temperatures and water vapor concentrations could be independently regulated in both sections. The best fitting was found using a correlation technique. A distributed feedback (DFB) diode laser in the spectral range around 1.343 µm was used in the experiments. Because of the significant differences between the temperature dependences of the experimental and theoretical absorption spectra in the temperature range 300⁻1200 K, a database was constructed using experimentally detected single temperature spectra. Using the developed algorithm the maximum temperature in the two-section cell was estimated with accuracy better than 30 K.