CHARACTERIZATION OF ARCJET FLOWS USING LASER-INDUCED FLUORESCENCE

A sensor based on laser-induced fluorescence has been installed at the 20-MW NASA Ames Aerodynamic Heating Facility, The sensor has provided new, quantitative, real-time information about properties of the arcj et now in the highly dissociated, partially ionized, nonequilibrium re gime, Number densities of atomic oxygen, now velocities, heavy particl e translational temperatures, and collisional quenching rates have bee n measured, These results have been used to test and refine computatio nal models of the arcjet flow, The calculated number densities, transl ational temperatures, and flow velocities are in moderately good agree ment with experiment.