Kinetics of Metastable Argon Optical Excitation and Gain in Ar/He Microplasmas.

The optically pumped rare-gas metastable laser is capable of high-intensity lasing on a broad range of near-infrared transitions for excited-state rare gas atoms (Ar*, Kr*, Ne*, Xe*) diluted in flowing He. The lasing action is generated by photoexcitation of the metastable atom to an upper state, followed by collisional energy transfer with He to a neighboring state and lasing back to the metastable state. The metastables are generated in a high-efficiency electric discharge at pressures of ∼0.

Production and loss of O(Δ ) at atmospheric pressure using microwave-driven microplasmas.

We have used arrays of microwave-generated microplasmas operating at atmospheric pressure to generate high concentrations of singlet molecular oxygen, O(Δ ), which is of interest for biomedical applications. The discharge is sustained by a pair of microstrip-based microwave resonator arrays which force helium/oxygen gas mixtures through a narrow plasma channel. We have demonstrated the efficacy of both NO and less-hazardous NO additives for suppression of ozone and associated enhancement of the O(Δ ) yield.

Quantum cascade laser sensor for SO2 and SO3 for application to combustor exhaust streams.

We have demonstrated a high-sensitivity, room-temperature quantum-cascade (QC) laser sensor for detection of SO2 and SO3 under conditions relevant to aircraft test combustor exhaust. Two QC lasers probe infrared absorption features at 7.50 and 7.