Hybrid Data Acquisition and Analysis System for Flowing Medium Lasers

Abstract

The medium gas lasers involves in-situ generation of the lasing medium, hence are associated with several complex processes including mixing of pumping and lasing species, energy exchange between the species, heat generation during reaction and its influence on the flow domain to list a few. Thus, the characterisation of lasing medium, condition of operation of individual critical subsystems and corresponding phenomenon thereof is essential in real time. It is here that a customised data acquisition and analysis system (DAAS) plays a key role. The paper dwells on the realisation of a customised hybrid DAAS with a master-slave architecture, which is portable and provides remote system operation. The noteworthy aspects of the developed DAAS include capability to handle close to 150 channels [64 analog input, 64 digital output, 5 analog output and 17 digital input] simultaneously with varied sampling rates requirement ranging from 100 samples/s to 200 k samples/s, modularity in design enabling scalability. Further, the efficacy of the developed DAAS has been tested by conducting several real time experiments with an existing chemical oxygen iodine laser source with a mass flow rate of 2.3 moles.s-1 both from close ranges and at line of sight remote distances of up to 80 m and nearly 35 m with obstacles.