Knowledge Bank

It is possible to excite fuel components indirectly via a 10.6 um CO2 laser. A 9% solution of isopropanol in ethanol was used, as it has a strong absorption cross section at 10.6 um. CO2 laser excitation of pure ethanol caused little or no change in absorption in the C-H stretch region. However, the ethanol/isopropanol mixture did show a response proportional to laser excitation. Further studies indicate that excitation of isooctane/isopropanol mixture is also possible via collisional energy transfer between the laser excited isopropanol and isooctane.