Laser diagnostics for studies of turbulent combustion

The demands on the quality of velocity, concentration and temperature data from turbulent combustion systems for comparison with numerical predictions are rising with the increasing performance of models for the numerical des cription of these effects. These demands lead to a high degree of maturity in laser-based methods for concentration, temperature and species informati on. Laser-based methods are able to give the required information without s everely disturbing the observed effects and with the needed accuracy and te mporal and spatial resolution. This article reviews the state of the art an d recent developments of laser-Doppler velocimetry, Rayleigh spectroscopy, spontaneous Raman spectroscopy, coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy and laser-induced fluorescence. Emphasis is placed not only on aspects of thes e measurement techniques connected with spatially and temporally resolved q uantitative measurements in turbulent combustion, but also on the interacti on of the requirements of these methods on the object with the requirements of the characterized object itself and with demands from methods of numeri cal prediction on the generated data. New developments and requirements on the reviewed methods originating from new trends in combustion modelling ar e included.