Absolute HCO concentration measurements in methane/air flame using intracavity laser spectroscopy

Intracavity laser absorption spectroscopy was used to measure the absorption spectra of a premixed, flat methane/air flame at a total pressure of 30 Torr. The spectra were measured in the spectral range of 16 000-16 300 cm(-1). A flat flame burner was placed inside the cavity of a broadband dye laser pumped by a cw argon-ion laser. The spectrum of the laser output was measured by a high resolution spectrograph (with a spectral resolution of 0.003 nm). The spectrum of HCO radicals ((A) over tilde (2)A''<--(X) over tilde(2)A' transition) was measured with a high signal-to-noise ratio at different positions above the burner, providing the first quantitative measurement of the absolute concentrations of the HCO radical in flames. The linewidths of the individual rotational lines in the spectrum can be closely fitted by the equation Gamma=X+ZN(2)(N+1)(2), where X=0.37+/-0.03 cm(-1) and Z=(8 +/-0.5) 10(-6). The rotational temperature of the HCO radicals was evaluated from the spectra, but the error and the data scatter are relatively high since the lines with a high rotational quantum number N are strongly superimposed with Lines from different branches. The ''hot band,'' which can be assigned to the transition (0,0,1)-(0,9,1), was observed in spectra measured at high temperature. The value nu(3)''=1859 cm(-1) is evaluated from the position of this ''hot band.'' The concentration profile of the HCO radical has a maximum value of about 1.2x10(13) molecules/cm(3) which is in reasonable agreement with computer simulation results, when the uncertainties of the absorption cross section and of the rate constants for HCO reactions an taken into account. The relatively strong lines of the CH2 radical spectrum (the (b) over tilde(1)B(1)<--(a) over tilde(1)A(1) transition) were also recorded in the studied wavelength range. The spectra of these two radicals can be measured simultaneously which is advantageous in combustion diagnostics. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.