Les interactions plasma surface (PSI) sont considérées comme l'un des défis scientifiques majeurs de la fusion nucléaire magnétique contrôlée. L'interaction entre les isotopes d'hydrogène et les matériaux de l’enceinte à plasma tels que le tungstène revêt une importance particulière. Le coefficient de perte en surface des isotopes atomiques (γ) est un point clé dans les études PSI. Il peut donner des informations sur le recyclage de l'hydrogène atomique à la paroi et constitue ainsi un paramètre clé dans les modélisations des interactions plasma surface. Le but de ce projet est de déterminer les coefficients de perte de surface de l'hydrogène atomique et du deutérium sur échantillons de tungstène (W) et de nitrure de tungstène (WN) en utilisant une technique de fluorescence induite par plasma (PIF) et une technique de fluorescence induite par laser à deux photons (TALIF). Ce projet s'effectue dans le réacteur CAMITER qui est un réacteur plasma radiofréquence à basse pression au laboratoire PIIM de l'Université Aix-Marseille. / Plasma surface interaction (PSI) is considered to be one of the key scientific challenges in nuclear fusion. The interaction between hydrogen isotopes and plasma-facing materials such as tungsten is of particular importance. The atomic hydrogen isotope surface loss coefficient (γ) is a key point in PSI studies. It can give information on hydrogen isotope inventory and is an important input for modeling and theoretical work. The aim of this project is to determine atomic hydrogen and deuterium surface loss coefficients on tungsten (W) sample by using two-photon-absorption laser induced fluorescence (TALIF) and pulsed induced fluorescence (PIF) technique. This project is carried out in CAMITER reactor which is a low-pressure radio-frequency ICP reactor at PIIM laboratory in Aix-Marseille University.

Os sistemas de análises em fluxo com multi-impulsão (MP) empregam bombas solenóides como unidade propulsora de fluidos, as quais proporcionam um fluxo pulsante. Esta característica foi avaliada em função do funcionamento, operação e desempenho do sistema, das condições de mistura entre as soluções envolvidas e da dispersão da solução inserida. A avaliação geral dos sistemas MP envolveu estudos de precisão e exatidão volumétrica dos pulsos, bem como da robustez da unidade propulsora, os quais envolveram medidas gravimétricas. Ainda, dispersão envolvendo uma solução colorida como amostra foi espectrofotometricamente avaliada. Os resultados foram corroborados por meio de aplicações analíticas. Limitações quanto ao uso de bombas com maiores volumes de pulso (> 25 l) foram observadas a elevadas frequências de pulsação (> 4,0 Hz). Os volumes experimentalmente determinados concordaram com os valores esperados (erro relativo < 2,0 %). A dispersão da amostra foi menor relativamente àquela inerente a fluxo constante (sistema explorando multi-comutação, MC). O fluxo pulsante promoveu melhoria no desenvolvimento reacional devido principalmente à agitação dos elementos de fluido vizinhos. Este aspecto foi importante com relação à determinação espectrofotométrica de bromexina em fármacos. O método se fundamentou no acoplamento eletrofílico da bromexina com 3-metil-2-benzotiazolinona hidrazona (MBTH), e posterior oxidação com Ce(IV) em ambiente ácido. Boa sensibilidade analítica foi conseguida com baixo consumo de reagentes e rapidez nas análises (300 h-1). O sistema comparativo, envolvendo fluxo constante, não apresentou a mesma sensibilidade analítica. Outra aplicação foi a determinação espectrofotométrica de fosfato em extratos de solos envolvendo a formação do azul de molibdênio. Melhores resultados analíticos foram obtidos para freqüências de pulsação < 0,5 Hz, devido ao maior tempo disponível para a interação entre as espécies quínicas envolvidas. O sistema MP proposto requer menor volume de amostra (48 l) relativamente ao sistema MC (96 l), sendo caracterizado por maior frequência analítica (MP: 144 h-1; MC: 67 h-1). Os resultados referentes às análises de extratos de solos foram concordantes entre si e com relação ao método referência. A visualização de uma amostra se dispersando no fluxo pulsante foi possível empregando-se a técnica de despolarização da fluorescencia induzida por laser envolvendo Rodamina B. Os experimentos foram conduzidos sob alta (3,0 Hz) ou baixa (0,5 Hz) freqüência de pulsação na inserção de amostra, ausência ou presença de reator entre o local de introdução de amostra e o detector, e sentido horizontal ou vertical da cela de fluxo. Análise dos gráficos obtidos permitiu se vizualizar a re-distribuição de massas em função do tempo. Em geral, observou-se formação de vórtices no centro da zona de amostra e uma migração bastante intensa no sentido radial. No sentido axial, melhores interações amostra / fluxo transportador foram observadas quando a freqüência de pulsação foi baixa e em presença de um reator de 60 cm. O estabelecimento de vórtices resultou em uma mistura bastante rápida e pontual, o que foi confirmado pelas aplicações analíticas / Multi-pumping flow systems (MP) utilize solenoid pumps as fluid propelling devices, which deliver pulsed flows. This feature was evaluated in relation to the design, operation and performance of the system, to the mixing conditions, and to the dispersion of the introduced solution. The general evaluation of the MP systems involved investigations about precision and accuracy of the pulse volumes, as well as the pump ruggedness. To this end, gravimetric measurements were carried out. Moreover, dispersion was evaluated by exploiting a colored solution and spectrophotometric monitoring. Results were corroborated through analytical applications. Use pumps delivering higher pulse volumes (> 25 l) was limited when the pulsation frequency was > 4.0 Hz. The experimentally measured volumes were in agreement with to the expected values (relative error < 2.0 %). Sample dispersion was lower in relation to that inherent to laminar flow (multi-commuted flow system, MC).Exploitation of pulsed flow led to a enhanced reaction development mainly due to shaking of neighboring fluid elements. This aspect was important in relation to spectrophotometric determination of bromhexine in pharmaceuticals The method was based on electrophylic coupling of bromhexine with 3-methyl-2-benzothiazolinone hydrazone (MBTH), with further oxidation by Ce(IV) under acidic medium. Analytical sensitivity was fair, reagent consumption was low and sampling rate was 300 h-1. These figures of merit were not compared with those inherent to the MC system due to the lack of sensitivity of this system. Another application was the spectrophotometric determination of phosphate in soil extracts relying the molybdenum blue formation. Best analytical results were obtained for < 0.5 Hz pulse frequency, due to the higher available time for interaction among the involved chemical species. The proposed MP system required lower sample volume (48 l) in relation to the MC system (96 l), being characterized by higher sampling rate (MP: 144 h-1; MC: 67 h-1). Analytical results related to soil extracts were in agreement between them and with the reference method. Visualization of a dispersing sample in a pulsed flow became feasible using the laser induced fluorescence technique applied to Rhodamine B, RB. Experiments were performed under high (3.0 Hz) or low (0.5 Hz) pulse frequency, optional insertion of a reactor between the injection point and detection, and vertical or horizontal positioning of the flow-cell. Analyses of the graphs obtained allowed the visualization of the mass re-distribution in function of time. In general, vortex formation at the central portion of the sample zone and a high RB migration in the radial direction, were noted. Concerning axial direction, better sample / carrier stream interactions were observed for lower pulse frequency and insertion of the 60-cm reactor. Vortex establishment led to a punctual and fast mixing, as confirmed by the analytical applications

Os sistemas de análises em fluxo com multi-impulsão (MP) empregam bombas solenóides como unidade propulsora de fluidos, as quais proporcionam um fluxo pulsante. Esta característica foi avaliada em função do funcionamento, operação e desempenho do sistema, das condições de mistura entre as soluções envolvidas e da dispersão da solução inserida. A avaliação geral dos sistemas MP envolveu estudos de precisão e exatidão volumétrica dos pulsos, bem como da robustez da unidade propulsora, os quais envolveram medidas gravimétricas. Ainda, dispersão envolvendo uma solução colorida como amostra foi espectrofotometricamente avaliada. Os resultados foram corroborados por meio de aplicações analíticas. Limitações quanto ao uso de bombas com maiores volumes de pulso (> 25 l) foram observadas a elevadas frequências de pulsação (> 4,0 Hz). Os volumes experimentalmente determinados concordaram com os valores esperados (erro relativo < 2,0 %). A dispersão da amostra foi menor relativamente àquela inerente a fluxo constante (sistema explorando multi-comutação, MC). O fluxo pulsante promoveu melhoria no desenvolvimento reacional devido principalmente à agitação dos elementos de fluido vizinhos. Este aspecto foi importante com relação à determinação espectrofotométrica de bromexina em fármacos. O método se fundamentou no acoplamento eletrofílico da bromexina com 3-metil-2-benzotiazolinona hidrazona (MBTH), e posterior oxidação com Ce(IV) em ambiente ácido. Boa sensibilidade analítica foi conseguida com baixo consumo de reagentes e rapidez nas análises (300 h-1). O sistema comparativo, envolvendo fluxo constante, não apresentou a mesma sensibilidade analítica. Outra aplicação foi a determinação espectrofotométrica de fosfato em extratos de solos envolvendo a formação do azul de molibdênio. Melhores resultados analíticos foram obtidos para freqüências de pulsação < 0,5 Hz, devido ao maior tempo disponível para a interação entre as espécies quínicas envolvidas. O sistema MP proposto requer menor volume de amostra (48 l) relativamente ao sistema MC (96 l), sendo caracterizado por maior frequência analítica (MP: 144 h-1; MC: 67 h-1). Os resultados referentes às análises de extratos de solos foram concordantes entre si e com relação ao método referência. A visualização de uma amostra se dispersando no fluxo pulsante foi possível empregando-se a técnica de despolarização da fluorescencia induzida por laser envolvendo Rodamina B. Os experimentos foram conduzidos sob alta (3,0 Hz) ou baixa (0,5 Hz) freqüência de pulsação na inserção de amostra, ausência ou presença de reator entre o local de introdução de amostra e o detector, e sentido horizontal ou vertical da cela de fluxo. Análise dos gráficos obtidos permitiu se vizualizar a re-distribuição de massas em função do tempo. Em geral, observou-se formação de vórtices no centro da zona de amostra e uma migração bastante intensa no sentido radial. No sentido axial, melhores interações amostra / fluxo transportador foram observadas quando a freqüência de pulsação foi baixa e em presença de um reator de 60 cm. O estabelecimento de vórtices resultou em uma mistura bastante rápida e pontual, o que foi confirmado pelas aplicações analíticas / Multi-pumping flow systems (MP) utilize solenoid pumps as fluid propelling devices, which deliver pulsed flows. This feature was evaluated in relation to the design, operation and performance of the system, to the mixing conditions, and to the dispersion of the introduced solution. The general evaluation of the MP systems involved investigations about precision and accuracy of the pulse volumes, as well as the pump ruggedness. To this end, gravimetric measurements were carried out. Moreover, dispersion was evaluated by exploiting a colored solution and spectrophotometric monitoring. Results were corroborated through analytical applications. Use pumps delivering higher pulse volumes (> 25 l) was limited when the pulsation frequency was > 4.0 Hz. The experimentally measured volumes were in agreement with to the expected values (relative error < 2.0 %). Sample dispersion was lower in relation to that inherent to laminar flow (multi-commuted flow system, MC).Exploitation of pulsed flow led to a enhanced reaction development mainly due to shaking of neighboring fluid elements. This aspect was important in relation to spectrophotometric determination of bromhexine in pharmaceuticals The method was based on electrophylic coupling of bromhexine with 3-methyl-2-benzothiazolinone hydrazone (MBTH), with further oxidation by Ce(IV) under acidic medium. Analytical sensitivity was fair, reagent consumption was low and sampling rate was 300 h-1. These figures of merit were not compared with those inherent to the MC system due to the lack of sensitivity of this system. Another application was the spectrophotometric determination of phosphate in soil extracts relying the molybdenum blue formation. Best analytical results were obtained for < 0.5 Hz pulse frequency, due to the higher available time for interaction among the involved chemical species. The proposed MP system required lower sample volume (48 l) in relation to the MC system (96 l), being characterized by higher sampling rate (MP: 144 h-1; MC: 67 h-1). Analytical results related to soil extracts were in agreement between them and with the reference method. Visualization of a dispersing sample in a pulsed flow became feasible using the laser induced fluorescence technique applied to Rhodamine B, RB. Experiments were performed under high (3.0 Hz) or low (0.5 Hz) pulse frequency, optional insertion of a reactor between the injection point and detection, and vertical or horizontal positioning of the flow-cell. Analyses of the graphs obtained allowed the visualization of the mass re-distribution in function of time. In general, vortex formation at the central portion of the sample zone and a high RB migration in the radial direction, were noted. Concerning axial direction, better sample / carrier stream interactions were observed for lower pulse frequency and insertion of the 60-cm reactor. Vortex establishment led to a punctual and fast mixing, as confirmed by the analytical applications

[pt] Entender o processo de produção de fuligem é crucial para o projeto de novos queimadores, como os de fornos industriais. Estes queimadores, que utilizam processos de combustão turbulenta, dependem de transferência de calor via radiação das partículas de fuligem para as paredes do forno para seu bom funcionamento. A fuligem formada na região de radiação deve ser oxidada para evitar problemas de saúde e meio ambiente. Mesmo tendo havido significativo progresso no decorrer das duas últimas décadas em relação às chamas laminares, a interação entre a turbulência e a produção de fuligem ainda é um problema em aberto. Este trabalho apresenta resultados experimentais recentes da distribuição instantânea e média da distribuição de fuligem em chamas turbulentas de etileno/ar não prémisturadas estabilizadas em um queimador do tipo bluff-body. A intensidade de turbulência na região de esteira deste queimador é muito alta, levando a uma presença de fuligem intermitente e a estruturas de fuligem altamente distorcidas. A distribuição de fuligem é medida usando incandescência induzida por laser (LII), com uma excitação em 266 nm a 10 Hz e fluência de 0,8 J/cm2 e medição em 400 nm por uma câmera intensificada. Os resultados da técnica LII são comparados à técnica clássica de extinção da luz. Resultados da distribuição de hidrocarbonetos aromáticos policíclicos também são apresentados. Os resultados obtidos permitem caracterizar a distribuição da função de densidade de probabilidade de fuligem. Nas situações de escoamento onde a turbulência da esteira é controlada pelo escoamento de ar, demonstra-se que a PDF da fração volumétrica de fuligem corresponde a uma distribuição lognormal. / [en] Understanding the soot production process is crucial to the design of new burners, such as those in industrial furnaces. Indeed, these burners, which use turbulent combustion processes, rely on radiative heat transfer from the soot particles to the furnace walls to operate properly. The soot formed within the radiation region must the be oxidized in order to avoid health and environment issues. Although there has been significant progress over the past two decades in relation to laminar flames, the interaction between turbulence and soot production is still an open problem. This works presents recent experimental results of the instantaneous and mean soot distribution on non-premixed turbulent ethylene/air flames stabilized at a bluff-body burner. The turbulence intensity in the wake region of this burner is very high, leading to a soot intermittent presence and to highly distorted soot structures. The soot distribution is measured using laserinduced incandescence (LII), with 266 nm excitation at 10 Hz, 0.8 J/cm2 fluence and collected at 400 nm by an intensified camera. The results of the LII technique are compared to those of a classical of light extinction technique. Polyciclic aromatic hydrocarbon distribution results are also presented. The results obtained allow to characterize the soot probability density function distribution. In flow situations where the wake turbulence is controlled by the air flow, the soot volume fraction PDF is shown to correspond to a lognormal distribution.

Transport of solid particles in a slit virtual impactor has been analyzed using visualization techniques. Particle trajectories were observed using laser-induced fluorescence of monodisperse particles seeded in the virtual impactor flow. It was observed from these trajectories that for smaller inertia particles essentially followed the flow streamlines, whereas higher inertia particles tend to deflect from their initial streamlines. These transport characteristics were used to determine particle collection efficiency curves, and the percentage of defect particle transmission, particles transmitted to the major flow that are well beyond the experimentally determined 50% cutoff. Defect percentages were found to be in good agreement with those based on a local stokes number approach, an analytical model using a converging flow velocity profile. It was hypothesized that these defects occur by virtue of larger particles passing through the near wall flow region and consequently transported to the major flow. The trajectories of such defect occurrences clearly show that these particles originated in the near wall region. Performance at higher mass loadings was evaluated using a background dust matrix generated by a turntable aerosol generator. At high mass loadings, clogging of the slit led to the deterioration of the impactor's performance. The time taken to clog the silt was estimated by modeling the slit edge as a single filter fiber of rectangular cross section with the primary mechanism of filtration being interception and was found to be in good agreement with the experimental data. Elimination of defect transmission and clogging would be possible by the provision of a sheath airflow, which ensures that the near wall regions are free of particles.

The validation of UV reactors is currently accomplished by biodosimetry, in which the reactor is treated as a "black-box" and hence cannot account for the dependence of the dose delivery on the complex hydrodynamics and the spatial variation in UV intensity. Alternative methods, such as fluorescent microspheres as non-biological surrogates and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, have been developed; however, each method has its shortcomings. In this study, a novel technique for the spatial and temporal assessment of the hydrodynamics and the UV dose delivered and the link between these two factors in a lab-scale UV reactor using three dimensional laser induced fluorescence (3DLIF) is developed. This tool can also be utilized for the optimization of UV reactors and to provide data for validation of CFD-based simulation techniques. Regions of optimization include areas around the UV lamp where short-circuiting occurred, a longer inlet approach section that enhances the performance of the reactor by reducing short circuiting paths and a longer outlet region to provide greater mixing. 3DLIF allows real time characterization of mixing and dose delivery in a single lamp UV reactor placed perpendicular to flow by capturing fluorescence images emitted from a laser dye, Rhodamine 6G, using a high speed CCD camera. In addition to three-dimensional mixing, the technique successfully visualized the two-dimensional, transient mixing behaviors such as the recirculation zone and the von Karman vortices and the fluence delivery within the reactor, which has not been possible with traditional tracer test techniques. Finally, a decomposition technique was applied to the flow and fluence delivery based concentration data to reveal similar structures that affect these phenomena. Based on this analysis, changing the flow in the reactor, i.e. the Reynolds number, will directly affect the fluence delivery.

Flow past circular cylinders with stepwise discontinuities in diameter was investigated experimentally and numerically for the diameter ratio D/d = 2 and three Reynolds numbers, Re = 150, 300, and 1050. The investigation was focused on the vortex shedding phenomena occurring in the wake of the cylinders. In the first series of experimental and numerical studies, the flow development past a single step cylinder was investigated. The single step cylinder model is comprised of a small diameter cylinder (d) attached coaxially to a large diameter cylinder (D). The results show that three distinct spanwise vortex cells form in the step cylinder wake: a single vortex shedding cell in the wake of the small cylinder (the S-cell) and two vortex shedding cells in the wake of the large cylinder, one in the region downstream of the step (the N-cell) and the other away from the step (the L-cell). Due to the differences in vortex shedding frequencies between the three cells, complex vortex connections occur in two vortex-interaction regions located between the adjacent cells. The region at the boundary between the S-cell and the N-cell is relatively narrow and its spanwise extent does not fluctuate significantly. In this region, vortex dislocations manifested as half-loop connections between two S-cell vortices of opposite sign. In contrast, the region at the boundary between the N-cell and the L-cell exhibits a transient behavior, with large scale vortex dislocations causing cyclic variation in the extent of N-cell vortices. For Re = 300 and 1050, small scale streamwise vortices forming in the wake complicate the vortex dynamics within the adjacent S-cell and L-cell. There is no significant Reynolds number effect on the average spanwise extent of the vortex cells and the two transition regions between neighboring cells. Finally, formation of N-cell vortices is linked to downwash fluctuations near the step. The flow development past a dual step cylinder was studied experimentally for Re = 1050. The dual step cylinder model is comprised of a small diameter cylinder (d) and a large diameter cylinder (D) mounted at the mid-span of the small cylinder. The experiments were completed for a range of large cylinder aspect ratios 0.2 ≤ L/D ≤ 17. The flow development is highly dependent on the aspect ratio of the large cylinder, L/D. The results identify four distinct flow regimes: (i) for L/D = 17, three vortex shedding cells form in the wake of the large cylinder, one central cell and two cells of lower frequency extending over about 4.5D from the large cylinder ends, (ii) for 7 < L/D ≤ 14, a single vortex shedding cell forms in the wake of the large cylinder, whose shedding frequency decreases with decreasing L/D, (iii) for 2 ≤ L/D ≤ 7, vortex shedding in the wake of the large cylinder is highly three-dimensional, with vortices deforming in the near wake, (iv) for 0.2 ≤ L/D ≤ 1, only small cylinder vortices are shed in the wake and can form vortex connections across the wake of the large cylinder.

The Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) research at Texas A and M University is concerned with the experimental characterization of non-thermal and non-chemical equilibrium systems in hypersonic (Mach greater than 5) flowfields using experimental diagnostics, and is an interdisciplinary collaboration between the Chemistry and Aerospace Engineering departments. Hypersonic flight conditions often lead to non-thermochemical equilibrium (NTE) state of air, where the timescale of reaching a single (equilibrium) Boltzmann temperature is much longer than the timescale of the flow, meaning that certain molecular modes such as vibrational modes, may be much more excited than the translational or rotational modes of the molecule leading to thermal-nonequilibrium. A nontrivial amount of energy is therefore contained within the vibrational mode, and this energy cascades into the flow as thermal energy, affecting flow properties through the process of various vibrational-vibrational (V-V) and vibrational-translational (V-T) energy exchanges between the flow species. The research is a fundamental experimental study of these NTE systems and involves the application of advanced laser and optical diagnostics towards hypersonic flowfields. The research is broken down into two main categories: the application and adaptation of existing laser and optical techniques towards characterization of NTE, and the development of new molecular tagging velocimetry techniques which have been demonstrated in an NTE flowfield, but may be extended towards a variety of flowfields.

Transport of solid particles in a slit virtual impactor has been analyzed using visualization techniques. Particle trajectories were observed using laser-induced fluorescence of monodisperse particles seeded in the virtual impactor flow. It was observed from these trajectories that for smaller inertia particles essentially followed the flow streamlines, whereas higher inertia particles tend to deflect from their initial streamlines. These transport characteristics were used to determine particle collection efficiency curves, and the percentage of defect particle transmission, particles transmitted to the major flow that are well beyond the experimentally determined 50% cutoff. Defect percentages were found to be in good agreement with those based on a local stokes number approach, an analytical model using a converging flow velocity profile. It was hypothesized that these defects occur by virtue of larger particles passing through the near wall flow region and consequently transported to the major flow. The trajectories of such defect occurrences clearly show that these particles originated in the near wall region. Performance at higher mass loadings was evaluated using a background dust matrix generated by a turntable aerosol generator. At high mass loadings, clogging of the slit led to the deterioration of the impactor's performance. The time taken to clog the silt was estimated by modeling the slit edge as a single filter fiber of rectangular cross section with the primary mechanism of filtration being interception and was found to be in good agreement with the experimental data. Elimination of defect transmission and clogging would be possible by the provision of a sheath airflow, which ensures that the near wall regions are free of particles.

We have investigated the use of deep UV laser induced fluorescence for the sensitive detection and spectroscopic lifetime studies of terbium doped dipicolinic acid (DPA-Tb) and used this to study the optical characteristics of DPA which is a chemical surrounding most bacterial spores. Background absorption spectra, fluorescence spectra, and Excitation Emission Matrix (EEM) spectra were made of the DPA-Tb complex, using both fixed 266 nm wavelength and tunable (220 nm -- 280 nm) UV laser excitations. Of importance, the fluorescence lifetimes of the four main fluorescence peaks (488 nm, 543 nm, 581 nm, and 618 nm) of the DPA-Tb complex have been measured for the first time to our knowledge. The lifetimes of all the fluorescing lines have been measured as a function of DPA-Tb concentration, solvent pH, and solvent composition, including that for the weakest fluorescing line of DPA-Tb at 618 nm. In addition, a new spectroscopic lifetime measurement technique, which we call "Transient Fluorescence Spectroscopy" was developed. In this technique, a weak, quasi-CW, amplitude modulated UV laser (8.5 kHz) was used to measure the lifetimes of the fluorescence lines, and yields insight into energy transfer and excitation lifetimes within the system. This technique is especially useful when a high power laser is not either available or not suitable. In the latter case, this would be when a high power pulsed deep-UV laser could produce bleaching or destruction of the biological specimen. In addition, this technique simulated the excitation and fluorescence emission of the DPA-Tb using a 4-level energy model, and solved the dynamic transient rate equations to predict the temporal behavior of the DPA-Tb emitted fluorescence. Excellent agreement between the experiments and the simulation were found. This technique has the potential to provide a more accurate value for the fluorescence lifetime values. In addition, with the use of asymmetric excitation waveforms, the dynamic transient rate equation analysis may allow for detailed studies of selected transfer mechanisms in a wide range of other spectroscopic applications including rare-earth solid-state lasing materials and biological samples.