Experimental study of H2O spectroscopic parameters in the near-IR (6940-7440 cm) for gas sensing applications at elevated temperature

Tunable diode laser (TDL) absorption sensors of water vapor are attractive for temperature, gas composition, velocity, pressure, and mass flux measurements in a variety of practical applications including hydrocarbon-fueled combustion systems. Optimized design of these sensors requires a complete catalog of the assigned transitions with accurate spectroscopic data; our particular interest has been in the 2ν₁, 2ν₃, and ν₁+ν₃ bands in the near-IR where telecommunications diode lasers are available. In support of this need, fully resolved absorption spectra of H₂O vapor in the spectral range of 6940-7440 cm⁻¹ (1344-1441 nm) have been measured as a function of temperature (296-1000 K) and pressure (1-800 Torr), and quantitative spectroscopic parameters inferred from these spectra compared to published data from Toth, HITRAN 2000 and HITRAN 2004. The peak absorbances were measured for more than 100 strong transitions at 296 and 828 K, and linestrengths determined for 47 strong lines in this region. In addition to reference linestrengths S(296 K), the air-broadening coefficients γ_air(296 K) and temperature exponents n were inferred for strong transitions in five narrow regions, near 7185.60, 7203.89, 7405.11, 7426.14 and 7435.62 cm⁻¹ that had been targeted as attractive for future diagnostics applications. Most of the measured results, determined within an accuracy of 5%, are found to be in better agreement with HITRAN 2004 than with earlier editions of this database. Large discrepancies (>10%) between measurements and HITRAN 2004 database are identified for some of the probed transitions. These new spectroscopic data for H₂O provide a useful test of the sensor design capabilities of HITRAN 2004 for combustion and other applications at elevated temperatures.