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Welcome to the home page of my research blog.  I work in the areas of sensor design for harsh flow environments, hypersonics and laser diagnostics, mostly working on experiments like this…

Hypersonic Flow over a Cylinder

This is a resonantly enhanced shearing interferometry (RESI) image of the near wake of a hypersonic cylinder.  The RESI technique was invented in our laboratory and allows for time-resolved visualisation of very low density flows.

In addition to the RESI technique, we have employed

  • Planar laser induced fluorescence of OH and NO for hypersonic aerothermodynamics and combustion
  • Tuneable diode laser absorption spectroscopy for both tunnel flow characterisation and flight instrumentation (and we have a patent for this technology that we are looking to commercialise)
  • Thin film gauges and thermocouples for heat flux measurement
  • Embedded sensor systems using microcontrollers embedded into flight models
  • Laser hydrophones for measuring pressure changes in underwater shock waves
  • Fluorescence of atomic species for velocimetry

In other environments I have worked also on coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering measurements and femtosecond laser frequency-doubling methods for measurement of electric field strength in pulsed nanosecond-duration discharges.