METROLASER, INCORPORATED SBIR Phase I Award, September 2023

The goal of the proposed DTRA Phase I program is to develop a set a diagnostic tool to capture the evolution of aerosols and particulates ejected from liquid-filled containers impacted by fragments and shock waves in a detonation environment. Since these involve CWMD scenarios, the need is for optical diagnostics that are capable of providing accurate measurements at large standoff distances. Further, the formation region of high pressure aerosols is often optically dense, surrounded by microscale droplets and particles at high number densities, along with solid particulates from the container, and these aspects make optical imaging quite challenging. To address the need of DTRA, we propose to employ systems using ultrahigh-speed digital holography and spectroscopic methods to characterize the evolution of dense aerosols under non-reactive conditions. The feasibility of these methods will be explored using several laboratory-based experiments. The results from these experiments will be used to inform and guide the implementations of holography and spectroscopy to characterize the distributions of aerosols and fragments in a 3D space along with the mass distribution of liquid and vapor phases in a high-temperature, combusting environment. Further, successful implementation of these methods is expected to pave the way for the development of a rugged and portable suite of instruments to interrogate the evolution of aerosols and particles in field tests during a potential Phase II effort, and thereby obtain benchmark data for model validation and development.