Low atmospheric density measurement based on Rayleigh scattering of an ultraviolet laser

The qualitative measurement of low atmospheric density in the air flow field has been investigated in this paper. The supersonic flow field with Mach number of 1.5 around the NACA0006 aerofoil has been numerically simulated and the transient slight pressure and low density atmosphere have been experimentally determined based on Rayleigh scattering of a 266 nm ultraviolet laser. The scattering patterns have been effectively captured under different atmospheric pressure of 4.5, 92, 470 and 710 Pa with laser energy of only 0.5 mJ. It has been demonstrated that in the pressure range from 4.5 to 1100 Pa, corresponding to the atmospheric density from 4.8105×10–5 kg/m3 to 1.279×10–2 kg/m3, the scattering intensity of an ultraviolet laser is linear to the pressure and density with the slope coefficient of 0.00968 a.u./Pa and 0.83226 a.u./(kg/m3×10–3). It has been proved that Rayleigh scattering is a promising technology for observation of instantaneous and multidimensional distribution of a supersonic flow field