Single-pulse ultrafast real-time simultaneous planar imaging of femtosecond laser-nanoparticle dynamics in flames

• Published in: Light, science & applications science & applications, 2024-08, Vol.13 (1), p.221-9, Article 221
• Main Authors: Mishra, Yogeshwar Nath, Wang, Peng, Bauer, Florian J., Gudipati, Murthy S., Wang, Lihong V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 639/624/1107/510; 639/624/399/354; 639/624/400/584; Hydrocarbons; Lasers; Light scattering; Microwaves; Nanoparticles; Optical and Electronic Materials; Optical Devices; Optical properties; Optics; Photography; Photonics; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; RF and Optical Engineering; Soot
• ISSN: 2047-7538; 2047-7538
• DOI: 10.1038/s41377-024-01588-x

The creation of carbonaceous nanoparticles and their dynamics in hydrocarbon flames are still debated in environmental, combustion, and material sciences. In this study, we introduce single-pulse femtosecond laser sheet-compressed ultrafast photography (fsLS-CUP), an ultrafast imaging technique specifically designed to shed light on and capture ultrafast dynamics stemming from interactions between femtosecond lasers and nanoparticles in flames in a single-shot. fsLS-CUP enables the first-time real-time billion frames-per-second (Gfps) simultaneous two-dimensional (2D) imaging of laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) and laser-induced heating (LIH) that are originated from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and soot particles, respectively. Furthermore, fsLS-CUP provides the real-time spatiotemporal map of femtosecond laser-soot interaction as elastic light scattering (ELS) at an astonishing 250 Gfps. In contrast to existing single-shot ultrafast imaging approaches, which are limited to millions of frames per second only and require multiple laser pulses, our method employs only a single pulse and captures the entire dynamics of laser-induced signals at hundreds of Gfps. Using a single pulse does not change the optical properties of nanoparticles for a following pulse, thus allowing reliable spatiotemporal mapping. Moreover, we found that particle inception and growth are derived from precursors. In essence, as an imaging modality, fsLS-CUP offers ultrafast 2D diagnostics, contributing to the fundamental understanding of nanoparticle’s inception and broader applications across different fields, such as material science and biomedical engineering. Femtosecond Laser-sheet Compressed Ultrafast Photography (fsLS-CUP) is the world’s fastest real-time planar imaging camera (250 billion fps), enabling nanosecond observation of laser-nanoparticle interactions and hydrocarbon dynamics in flames simultaneously.