Spontaneous Raman scattering: a useful tool for investigating the afterglow of nanosecond scale discharges in air

Nanosecond scale discharges are considered an interesting way for assisting combustion by enhancing either flame stabilization or ignition. Better understanding of energy deposit and radical species production processes is still required under pressure conditions normally encountered in combustion. The purpose of the present paper is to show that spontaneous Raman scattering, seldom used to investigate nanosecond pulsed discharges, is a useful measurement method for investigating the energy deposit of these discharges. The advantage of spontaneous Raman scattering is described by analyzing N₂ and O₂ spectra during the post-discharge of a filamentary nanosecond air discharge under atmospheric pressure, using phase-locked average spectra. The main advantages of spontaneous Raman scattering measurements are that they allow line-wise probing of different species with the same experimental setup and the determination of vibrational distribution by comparison with theoretical modeling over a wide range of vibrational levels (from v=0 to v=20 for N₂). The model proposed takes into account the high level of vibrational excitation and the strong non-equilibrium observed, allowing the characterization of the vibrational relaxation over the complete post-discharge duration. Although the rotational structure is not resolved, the rotational temperature and thus translational temperature are determined with a moderate uncertainty for T above 500 K.