Laser-Induced Thermophoresis and Particulate Deposition Efficiency

The interaction of laser radiation and an absorbing aerosol in a tube flow has been considered. The aerosol is produced by external heating of reactants as in the MCVD (Modified Chemical Vapor Deposition) process to produce submicron size particles in the manufacture of optical fiber preforms. These particles are deposited by thermophoretic forces on the inner wall of the tube as they are convected by a Poiseuille velocity profile. Axial laser radiation in the tube interacts with the absorbing particles, and the laser heating of the gas induces additional thermophoretic forces that markedly increase the efficiency of particulate deposition. A particle concentration dependent absorption coefficient that appears in the energy equation couples the energy equation to the equation of particle conservation, so that a nonlinear set of coupled partial integro-differential equations must be solved. Numerical solutions for aerosol particle trajectories, and thus deposition efficiencies, have been obtained. It is shown that laser enhanced thermophoresis markedly improves the deposition efficiency.