Generation of Plasma Flows by 2 kW-class Continuous Wave Laser Driven Wind Tunnel

Abstract

A continuous wave laser driven wind tunnel has been developed to produce high enthalpy flows to simulate atmospheric reentry environment. As a result of preliminary operation tests, high enthalpy argon/oxygen flows were successfully generated with the input laser power of 800 W, the plenum pressure of 950 kPa and the plume diameter of 15 mm. Next, plume characteristics were diagnosed by laser absorption spectroscopy. Consequently, the radial distributions of the specific enthalpy were measured. It was found that the specific enthalpy of flow was around 4 MJ/kg at the radial position r < 3 mm.