High frame rate emission spectroscopy for ablation tests in plasma wind tunnel

This article describes a novel high frame rate emission spectroscopy setup developed for measurements in high enthalpy flow fields. The optical setup and the associated hardware arrangements are described in detail followed by test case data to demonstrate the capability of recording spectral images at 1 kHz frame rate. The new system is based on a classical Czerny-Turner spectrograph but with a particular setup for high frame rate detection using a Generation II intensifier coupled with a high-speed camera. The high frame rate spectral images acquired enable, for the first time, investigation of the spatial distribution and temporal tracking and evolution of molten droplets of an ablating sample. In this paper, an example is shown from ablating meteorite samples tested in a high enthalpy plasma flow field corresponding to a flight scenario at an altitude of 80 km. This new instrumental configuration allows emission spectroscopic analysis of transient phenomena simulated in the high enthalpy ground test facilities with kHz resolution. The particular feature of this system is the ability to measure very faint spectral lines at high temporal and spatial resolution.