Diffusion Time-Scale of Porous Pressure-Sensitive Paint

Pressure-sensitive paint (PSP) is an optical pressure sensor that utilizes the oxygen quenching of luminescence. PSP measurements in unsteady aerodynamic flows require fast time response of the paint. There are two characteristic time-scales that are related to the time response of PSP. One is the luminescent lifetime representing an intrinsic physical limit for the achievable temporal resolution of PSP. Another is the time-scale of oxygen diffusion across the PSP layer. When the time-scale of oxygen diffusion is much larger than the luminescent lifetime, the time response of PSP is controlled by oxygen diffusion. In a thin homogenous polymer layer where diffusion is Fickian, the oxygen concentration 1021 can be described by the diffusion equation in one-dimension.