My experimental research is centred on laser diagnostics. Many engineering systems, including engines, have until recently been ‘black boxes’. That is to say, diagnosis and improvement have been built around analysis of the outputs that come from changing specified inputs. For example: what happens to engine pollutant levels if we change the fuel from gasoline to a gasoline/ethylene blend. Using laser diagnostics it is now possible to look inside the ‘black box’. By designing optically accessible test rigs which allow laser light to  access the internal workings, a whole new range of information is delivered to the research engineer. We now have the capability to see how the change in inputs affects the outputs. The process is applicable to a whole range of engineering problems centred around thermofluidic and chemical interactions, and this knowledge allows us to improve and expedite the design & development process.

I use laser induced fluorescence, LIF, to understand the fuel mixing process in directly injected natural gas engines. The majority of my experience is in the UV excitation of acetone, using high power excimer lasers. I am also, however, well versed in a wide range of LIF applications for pre- and post-combustion diagnostics, mixing and species identification. Further, I have a good understanding of LIF’s sister techniques Rayleigh and Raman scattering.