Analysis of diffential absorption lidar technique for measurements of anhydrous hydrogen chloride from solid rocket motors using a deuterium fluoride laser

An active optical technique (differential absorption lidar (DIAL)) for detecting, ranging, and quantifying the concentration of anhydrous HCl contained in the ground cloud emitted by solid rocket motors (SRM) is evaluated. Results are presented of an experiment in which absorption coefficients of HCl were measured for several deuterium fluoride (DF) laser transitions demonstrating for the first time that a close overlap exists between the 2-1 P(3) vibrational transition of the DF laser and the 1-0 P(6) absorption line of HCl, with an absorption coefficient of 5.64 (atm-cm) to the -1 power. These measurements show that the DF laser can be an appropriate radiation source for detecting HCl in a DIAL technique. Development of a mathematical computer model to predict the sensitivity of DIAL for detecting anhydrous HCl in the ground cloud is outlined, and results that assume a commercially available DF laser as the radiation source are presented.