Pulsed-laser-induced hole burning in an aerosol medium: a new technique for flow visualization in gases

A novel technique that uses Mie scattering from aerosol particles is presented for quanititative flow visualization in gases. A pulsed 80-mJ XeCl excimer laser burns a tunnel through the aerosol mass in a flowing volume of gas. A sheet of light from a cw argon-ion laser is used to illuminate this aerosol tunnel and to study its time evolution. The time evolution of such tunnels formed by a train of successive excimer laser pulses provides a simple technique for quantitative measurement of translational and rotational gas velocities in the plane of the argon-ion laser light sheet.