Vapor phase tri-methyl-indium seeding system suitable for high temperature spectroscopy and thermometry.

Tri-methyl-indium (TMI) is used as an indium transport molecule to introduce indium atoms to reactive hot gas flows/combustion environments for spectroscopic diagnostics. A seeding system was constructed to allow the addition of an inert TMI laden carrier gas into an air/fuel mixture burning consequently on a burner. The amount of the seeded TMI in the carrier gas can be readily varied by controlling the vapor pressure through the temperature of the container. The seeding process was calibrated using the fluorescent emission intensity from the indium 6(2)S1/2 → 5(2)P1/2 and 6(2)S1/2 → 5(2)P3/2 transitions as a function of the calculated TMI seeding concentration over a range of 2-45 ppm. The response was found to be linear over the range 3-22.5 ppm; at concentrations above 25 ppm there is a loss of linearity attributable to self-absorption or loss of saturation of TMI vapor pressure in the carrier gas flow. When TMI was introduced into a post-combustion environment via an inert carrier gas, molecular transition from InH and InOH radicals were observed in the flame emission spectrum. Combined laser-induced fluorescence and absorption spectroscopy were applied to detect indium atoms in the TMI seeded flame and the measured atomic indium concentration was found to be at the ppm level. This method of seeding organometallic vapor like TMI to a reactive gas flow demonstrates the feasibility for quantitative spectroscopic investigations that may be applicable in various fields, e.g., chemical vapor deposition applications or temperature measurement in flames with two-line atomic fluorescence.