Laser diagnostics of spatially structured perturbations, following fast sparks

Laser-based diagnostics has been applied to the study of the spatial perturbations, induced in gaseous reactive mixtures by fast spark discharges. Shadowgraphy and 'imaged' laser light scattering (LLS) technique, along with accurate timing procedures, allowed to explore up to four decades (0.2 µs to 2000 µs), with spatial and temporal resolution of 30 µm and 20 ns respectively.