Optics and Lasers in Engineering 102 (2017) 161–169

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Optics and Lasers in Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/optlaseng

Temperature measurement of wick stabilized micro diffusion flame under

the influence of magnetic field using digital holographic interferometry
Shilpi Agarwal, Varun Kumar, Chandra Shakher∗
Laser Applications and Holography Laboratory, Instrument Design Development Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, 110016, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Keywords: This paper presents the effect of magnetic field (upward decreasing, uniform and upward increasing) on wick
Micro flame stabilized micro diffusion flame by using digital holographic interferometry (DHI). The investigations reveal
Phase map that under the influence of upward decreasing and uniform magnetic field temperature inside the micro flame
Refractive index
increases in comparison to temperature inside micro flame without magnetic field. This is in contrary to normal
Temperature
diffusion flame, where uniform magnetic field has a little or no effect on the temperature. DHI is inherently more
Magnetic field
accurate more precise and is having better spatial resolution. DHI is ideally suited to study micro flame.
© 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Introduction
Micro diffusion flame is almost spherical in shape and having sizes
of several millimeters (∼2 mm to 3 mm) [1–2]. The temperature inside
the micro diffusion flame is less as compared to normal diffusion flame
because the small size and large surface area to volume ratio of mi-
cro flame leads to considerable amount of heat loss to environment and
combustion system such as burner and candle. There is little or no buoy-
ancy effect on micro diffusion flames because of its small size [3–6]. The
micro diffusion flame is controlled by diffusion and convection [1]. The
study of micro diffusion flames is useful to understand the structure of
diffusion controlled phenomena and diffusion flame itself [2].
Recently, the need of micro scale combustion systems to power the
micro devices has increased for space and surveillance applications. The
micro diffusion flames are used in microsatellites and unmanned micro
aerial vehicle. For developing such combustion systems, an understand-
ing of the characteristic of micro flames is required. Although combus-
tion is well understood and studied for various applications, however, its
applications to micro power devices is limited because it is challenging
to maintain a sustainable combustion in micro combustion systems. To
maintain the sustainable combustion in micro flames is difficult because
of higher heat losses due to large surface area to volume ratio of micro
flame and negligible buoyancy control flow which leads to quench the
chemical reaction. Heat loss from the micro diffusion flame can be min-
imized by reducing the size of micro flame without reducing generated
heat through combustion reaction.
Numbers of contact type [7] and non-contact type methods [8] have
been used for the measurement of temperature. Contact type methods
using thermocouple are not suitable for temperature measurement in-
side the micro flame because thermocouple is likely to affect the stability
of micro flame and may result in quenching of micro flame. Other lim-
itations of using thermocouple for temperature measurement are that
they provide point wise measurements and suffer from conductive and
radiative loss from the probe of thermocouple. While optical interfero-
metric methods [8–16] are non-contact, non-invasive, more precise and
full field. These methods do not disturb the flow of temperature field
inside the micro flames. They are expected to be more suitable to study
the micro flames.
Some researchers have studied the effect of magnetic field on the
flames using different techniques [17–34]. However most of the studies
made on micro flame are theoretical. Recently Digital speckle pattern
interferometry (DSPI) has been used to study the effect of magnetic field
on the temperature and temperature profile of micro diffusion flame
[35].
In this paper, an application of digital holographic interferometry
is investigated for the measurement of temperature and temperature
profile of a wick stabilized micro diffusion candle flame under the influ-
ence of three different configurations of magnetic field i.e. (1) upward
decreasing magnetic field (2) uniform magnetic field, and (3) upward
increasing magnetic field. DHI is more accurate, precise and provides
better spatial resolution than other existing optical interferometric tech-
niques. DHI can also provide temperature fluctuations in the flame as
recording process can be made quite fast. The motivation to investigate
the effect of magnetic field on micro flame was to study the micro flames
and stable and controlled combustion in micro flames.

∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: cshakher@iddc.iitd.ac.in (C. Shakher).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.optlaseng.2017.10.019
Received 26 April 2017; Received in revised form 6 October 2017; Accepted 23 October 2017
0143-8166/© 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
S. Agarwal et al. Optics and Lasers in Engineering 102 (2017) 161–169

Fig. 1. Schematic of the co-ordinate system of recording and reconstruction planes of digital hologram.

2. Theory Fresnel approximation method and convolution method [36] etc., which
uses combination of several Fourier transform and complex multiplica-
In digital holography, interference pattern between the reference tions. The reconstructed object wave front O(mΔXI , nΔYI ) represented
wave and object wave is recorded on an electronic detector such as CCD by Eq. (3) is an array of complex function, and hence, both the inten-
or CMOS sensor. The recorded interference pattern is sampled and dig- sity ‘I(mΔXI , nΔYI )’ as well as the phase distribution ‘𝜙(mΔXI , nΔYI )’ of
itized with the help of analog to digital (A/D) converter and stored in object wavefront can be calculated from Eq. (3)
computer through image grabber card. The real and virtual image can
( ) | ( )|2 | ( )|
be reconstructed from the recorded digital hologram if the diffraction 𝐼 𝑚Δ𝑋𝐼 , 𝑛Δ𝑌𝐼 = |𝑂 𝑚Δ𝑋𝐼 , 𝑛Δ𝑌𝐼 | = Re2 |𝑂 𝑚Δ𝑋𝐼 , 𝑛Δ𝑌𝐼 |
| | | |
of the reference wave is carried out by numerical methods [36]. The
2|
( )|
diffraction of reference wave at the hologram is described by Fresnel + Im |𝑂 𝑚Δ𝑋𝐼 , 𝑛Δ𝑌𝐼 | (4)
| |
Kirchoff integral [36]. Fig. 1 shows the schematic of the co-ordinate sys-
tem of recording and reconstruction planes of digital hologram, where and
(XO , YO ), (X, Y), and (XI , YI ) are the Cartesian co-ordinates of the object, Im[𝑂(𝑚Δ𝑋𝐼 , 𝑛Δ𝑌𝐼 )]
𝜙(𝑚Δ𝑋𝐼 , 𝑛Δ𝑌𝐼 ) = arctan (5)
hologram and image planes respectively. The digitized form of complex Re[𝑂(𝑚Δ𝑋𝐼 , 𝑛Δ𝑌𝐼 )]
amplitude of object wavefront O(mΔXI , nΔYI ) in image plane can be where the operators ‘Re’ and ‘Im’ denote real and imaginary part of a
calculated from Fresnel- Kirchoff integral with Fresnel approximation. complex functions respectively.
It can be written as [37] To implement DHI, for the measurement of temperature and temper-
( ) [ ( )]
𝑂(𝑚Δ𝑋𝐼 , 𝑛Δ𝑌𝐼 ) = 𝜆𝑖𝑑 exp −𝑖 2𝜆𝜋 𝑑 exp −𝑖𝜋𝜆𝑑 𝑀 2𝑚Δ𝑋 2 + 𝑁 2𝑛Δ𝑌 2
2 2
ature profile of micro flame, first a digital hologram H1 (p, q) is recorded
{ [ ]} (1) in the absence of micro flame. It is used as a reference hologram. This
𝜋
×𝐹 𝐹 𝑇 𝐸𝑅 (𝑝, 𝑞)𝐻(𝑝, 𝑞) exp −𝑖 𝜆𝑑 (𝑝2 Δ𝑋 2 + 𝑞 2 Δ𝑌 2 ) hologram corresponds to ambient state of air. Second hologram H2 (p,
q) is recorded in the presence of micro flame. When laser light is pass
where O(mΔXI , nΔYI ) is a matrix of M × N point, where M × N is number
through the micro flame, the phase of the object wave front changes
of pixels on the recording sensor (CCD/CMOS) with m, p = 0, 1, 2, 3,
due to the variation in the temperature/refractive index inside the mi-
4,….…M−1, and n, q = 0, 1,2,3,4……..N-1. ‘d ’ is the distance between
cro flame. The phase distribution of object wavefronts 𝜙1 (mΔXI , nΔYI )
the hologram and image plane. ER (p, q) is the digitized reference wave
due to the reference hologram and 𝜙2 (mΔXI , nΔYI ) in the presence of
and H(p, q) is the digitized recorded intensity in hologram plane i.e.
micro flame, can be numerically reconstructed from digital holograms
digital hologram. ΔX and ΔY are the pixel size of the CCD sensor (i.e.
H1 (p, q) and H2 (p, q) by using Eq. (5). Phase of the reconstructed object
hologram plane) and ΔXI and ΔYI are the pixel sizes in the reconstructed
𝜆𝑑 𝜆𝑑 wave fronts 𝜙(mΔXI , nΔYI ) as given by Eq. (5) remains wrapped in the
image, relate as Δ𝑋𝐼 = 𝑀Δ𝑋 ; Δ𝑌𝐼 = 𝑁Δ𝑌 ;
range (−𝜋, +𝜋) radian corresponding to the principle value of the ‘arc-
In this paper, lensless Fourier transform (LLFT) configuration of
tan’ function. The interference phase, which is the phase difference in
digital holography is used, in which object (micro flame) and point
the absence and with the presence of micro flame, is calculated directly
source of spherical reference wave are kept in the same plane. The ad-
by modulo 2𝜋 subtraction as [36]
vantage of using this configuration is that the spherical phase factor
𝜋
exp[−𝑖 𝜆𝑑 (𝑝2 Δ𝑋 2 + 𝑞 2 Δ𝑌 2 ) associated with the Fresnel diffraction of the ( )
Δ 𝜙 𝑚Δ𝑋𝐼 , 𝑛Δ𝑌𝐼
transmitted wave through hologram is eliminated by using of a spher-
ical reference wave ER (p, q) with the same average curvature that was ⎧ ( ) ( )
⎪𝜙1 𝑚Δ𝑋(𝐼
, 𝑛Δ𝑌𝐼 − 𝜙2 𝑚Δ𝑋𝐼 , 𝑛Δ𝑌𝐼
) ( )
used during the recording ⎪ 𝑖𝑓 𝜙 𝑚Δ𝑋𝐼 , 𝑛Δ𝑌𝐼 ≥ 𝜙2 𝑚Δ𝑋𝐼 , 𝑛Δ𝑌𝐼
[ )] = ⎨ ( 1 ) ( ) (6)
𝜋 ( 2 ⎪𝜙1 𝑚Δ𝑋 , 𝑛Δ𝑌𝐼 − 𝜙2 𝑚Δ𝑋𝐼 , 𝑛Δ𝑌𝐼 + 2 𝜋
𝐸𝑅 (𝑝, 𝑞) = (𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡.) exp 𝑖 𝑝 Δ𝑋 2 + 𝑞 2 Δ𝑌 2 (2) (𝐼 ) ( )
𝜆𝑑 ⎪ 𝑖𝑓 𝜙1 𝑚Δ𝑋𝐼 , 𝑛Δ𝑌𝐼 < 𝜙2 𝑚Δ𝑋𝐼 , 𝑛Δ𝑌𝐼
⎩
Substituting Eq. (2) into Eq. (1) results in a simpler algorithm for
LLFT configuration of DHI [37] This phase difference is continuous between the 0 and 2𝜋, this 2𝜋
( ) [ ( )] phase discontinuity is removed by Goldstein phase unwrapping method
𝑖 2𝜋 𝑚2 𝑛2
𝑂(𝑚Δ𝑋𝐼 , 𝑛Δ𝑌𝐼 ) = exp −𝑖 𝑑 exp −𝑖𝜋𝜆𝑑 + [38]. This unwrapped phase difference distribution is used to calcu-
𝜆𝑑 𝜆 𝑀 Δ𝑋
2 2 𝑁 Δ𝑌
2 2
late the refractive index distribution inside the micro flame. The phase
×𝐹 𝐹 𝑇 {𝐻(𝑝, 𝑞)} (3) change Δ𝜙(X) along a line at distance x from axis of symmetry of micro
flame is given as
Thus, LLFTDH involves only one Fourier transform of recorded dig-
ital hologram H(p, q) apart from some multiplicative constant. Hence 𝐿
2𝜋
this method is faster as compared to other reconstruction methods like Δ𝜙(𝑋) = 𝜙2 (𝑋) − 𝜙1 (𝑋) = [𝑛𝑟 (𝑟) − 𝑛0 (𝑟)]𝑑𝑍 (7)
𝜆 ∫
0
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S. Agarwal et al.
Fig. 2. Schematic of axi-symmetric temperature field of micro flame.
where 𝜆 is the wavelength of light, ‘L(X, Z)’ is the distance travelled by
the laser light in heated air of micro flame along a line at distance x from
axis of symmetry of micro flame in a plane at particular height, 𝜙(x) is
the phase difference, R is the maximum radial distance inside the flame
and n is the refractive index. The subscripts ‘r’ and ‘o’ refer to ‘heated air’
inside the micro flame and ‘ambient air’ without micro flame. Refrac-
tive index of heated air of micro flame can be considered cylindrically
symmetrical in stable environmental condition. In case of axi-symmetric
phase objects, the integrated phase difference can be transformed to ra-
dially distributed refractive index using inverse Abel transform [37]
𝑅
−𝜆 𝑑 (Δ𝜙)∕𝑑𝑋
Δ𝑛(𝑟) = ( )1∕2 𝑑𝑋
2𝜋 2 ∫𝑟 𝑋 2 − 𝑟2
where R is the maximum radial distance, r = (X2 + Z2 )1/2 is the radial
co-ordinate in a cylindrical polar co-ordinate system, X, Y and Z are
the co-ordinates in Cartesian co-ordinate system, Z is the direction of
propagation of light and Y is along the axis of symmetry [Fig. 2].
In DHI, the evaluated phase difference data ‘Δ𝜙’ is in discrete form
but the integral given by Eq. (7) for calculation of refractive index differ-
ence is in continuous form. Hence it is needed to convert the continuous
form into discrete form. Area matrix method is used for calculation of
change in refractive index from the measured unwrapped phase differ-
ence data [37]. The refractive index difference data in terms of linear
matrix equation using Area Matrix method is expressed as [37]
𝑎 given by ΔXI = 𝜆d/NΔX, where d = 79 cm, 𝜆 = 632.8 nm, N = 1040, and
[Δ𝑛] = [𝑆 ]−1 [Δ𝜙] (9)
2𝑘
where 𝑘 = 2𝜆𝜋 is constant, [S] is Area matrix and it depends only on the
interval ‘a’ between the measurement pixel. After scaling the width of
measured data and deciding the number of data points, the area ma-
trix can be arranged by the geometrical relationship as represented by
Eq. (9). Since the phase difference data obtained by DHI is not con-
tinuous, but have discrete values, including noise from several sources,
including speckle noise. This noise can give rise to amplification by the
process of derivative of Δ𝜙 in Eq. (8). The Area Matrix method used in
this paper can avoid this amplification as it does not require any deriva-
tive of phase difference data Δ𝜙 for the calculation of refractive index
difference distribution.
Once the refractive index difference is obtained from Eq. (9), the
temperature distribution of micro flame can be calculated using Lorentz-
Lorenz formula [14]
[( )( ) ]−1
𝑛 − 𝑛0 3𝑃 𝐴 + 2𝑅𝑇0
𝑇 = 𝑇0 +1 (10)
𝑛0 3𝑃 𝐴
where T0 is the room temperature and n0 is the refractive index of am-
bient air in the laboratory when the measurement is done. P is the at-
mospheric pressure. A is the molar refractivity of air. It is a measure
of the total polarizability of a mole of a substance and is dependent on
temperature, index of refraction, and pressure. The molar refractivity
of air used in the experiment is 4.36 × 10−6 m3 /mol at 298.3 K which
was decided based on the temperature, pressure and humidity on the
Optics and Lasers in Engineering 102 (2017) 161–169
day of conducting the experiment. The uncertainty in the measurement
of refractivity due to temperature, pressure and humidity is 0.0017%
as reported by F. E. Jones [39]. R is the universal gas constant. It is a
physical constant that appears in an equation defining the behavior of
a gas under theoretically ideal conditions.
3. Experimental
The schematic of the LLFTDHI set-up used for measurement of tem-
perature distribution of micro diffusion flame is shown in Fig. 3(a).
In the experiment, a 30 mW He-Ne laser (Make - Spectra Physics,
𝜆 = 632.8 nm) is used as a coherent light source. Light from the laser
is divided into two beams using a beam splitter (BS). One beam is col-
limated using a spatial filter assembly (SF1 ) and a collimating lens of
30 mm diameter and 80 mm focal length. This collimated beam is passed
through the micro flame under study and is reflected by mirror M4 and
then passed through diffuser plate. A weak diffuser plate made on op-
tical glass by emery 304 is used in the experiment. The grain size on
diffuser is 8.45 μm. This diffused beam acts as an object beam. The
advantages of using diffused-illumination in DHI are that (1) the aver-
age irradiance of light reaching the electronic detector (CCD/CMOS) is
nearly uniform and (2) noise in the form of diffraction rings due to dust
particles or small scratches on optical elements is eliminated. Moreover,
if the diffuser plate is not used, the field of view is limited to an area
the size of the faceplate of the sensor. With the help of a diffuser, the
sensor receives light scattered from all points on the diffuser [40]. The
second beam is made spherical reference beam after passing through the
(8)
spatial filter SF2 placed in the plane of diffuser. The interference pat-
tern formed by the superposition of the reference beam and the object
beam was recorded by CCD camera. This recorded interference pattern
is digital hologram. The pixel size of CCD sensor is 6.45 μm × 6.45 μm.
Total numbers of pixels are 1392 × 1040 and the sensor chip dimen-
sion is 2/3 inch. Dynamic range of the CCD camera is 8 bit. A computer
with 32 bit Intel Core (TM) 2 Duo microprocessor and CPU clock rate
of 2.00 GHz was used to process the data in the experiment. Distance
of the faceplate of the CCD sensor was 79 cm from the plane of diffuser
plate and the reference beam. Spatial resolution of DHI fringes is con-
trolled by pixel size and speckle noise. DHI is expected to have better
spatial resolution than DSPI, Talbot interferometry and speckle shear-
ing interferometry. Transverse resolution in the reconstruction plane is
ΔX = 6.45 μm. Temperature was measured with spatial resolution (ΔXI )
of 74.5 μm. The phase difference of the order of 𝜆/30 (0.209 radians)
could be measured through DHI system when the digital hologram of
spatial frequency of Approx. 50 lines pair/mm was used.
As the size of the candle flame strongly depends on wick’s length, a
steady micro diffusion flame is created by self-trimming of wick of can-
dle [41–42]. To ensure a stable uniform size of wick for a small duration
required during experiments a liquid wax pool is created near the wick
[42].
In the experiment, two magnets of rare earth (magnetic strength 0.35
Tesla) of rectangular shape with dimensions 49 mm × 49 mm × 12 mm
were fixed on both sides of the micro flame to produce magnetic field.
The gap between the two magnets was 2.3 cm. The magnetic field distri-
bution was measured by Digital Gauss Meter (Model DGM -102, Resolu-
tion = 1 Gauss at 0–2 K-Gauss range, and Accuracy = ±0.5%). A uniform
magnetic field of 0.29 Tesla was produced in the central region between
the two magnets, while a non-uniform magnetic field with a gradient of
about 0.12 T∕m existed in the surrounding region at a distance of 2.5 cm
with an uncertainty of ±1 mm from the center of magnets. Fig. 4 shows
the scheme of magnetic field representation produced by rare earth mag-
net and phase difference map of air in absence and presence of micro
flame in upward decreasing magnetic field, uniform magnetic field and
upward increasing magnetic field.
The ambient temperature (T0 ) was measured with the R-type
platinum–platinum rhodium thermocouple and multilogger (model SC-
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Fig. 3. (a) Schematic of experimental set-up for the measurement of temperature distribution of wick stabilized micro diffusion flame created from candle. (b) Photograph of micro
flame.

Fig. 4. Schematic of various combinations of magnetic field and wrapped phase difference maps of air in absence and presence of micro flame under the three different configuration
of magnetic field.

7501, Iwatsu Electronics Company Ltd.). Measurement of temperature
with the thermocouple was performed by setting the reference temper-
ature to 0 °C with a reference point compensation circuit with the mul-
tilogger. The bead size (size of thermocouple junction) of the thermo-
couple was 0.5 mm. The response time of temperature measurement by
thermocouple with multilogger was 600–700 ms. The thermocouple can
measure temperature up to 1600 °C with a temperature measurement
accuracy of 0.2% of full-scale ±4 digits.
4. Experimental results
Photograph of micro diffusion flame used in the experiment is shown
in Fig. 3(b). In every configuration of magnetic field, three holograms

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Fig. 5. (a) Wrapped phase difference map of micro flame in the absence of uniform magnetic field. (b) 3D unwrapped phase difference map of micro flame corresponding to Fig 5(a).
(c) Unwrapped phase difference profile corresponding to Fig 5(b). (d) Refractive index difference profile along line AB as marked in Fig 5(a). (e) Temperature profile along line AB
corresponding to Fig 5(a).

Table 1 3D unwrapped phase difference maps corresponding to Fig. 5(a).

Width of micro flame under three different configurations of magnetic fields.
Magnetic field configuration Width of micro flame (mm)
Without magnetic field With magnetic field
Upward decreasing magnetic field 2.52 2.22
Uniform magnetic field 2.73 2.51
Upward increasing magnetic field 2.52 2.88
were recorded. First hologram was recorded as a reference hologram
without micro flame in ambient air, while the second and third holo-
gram was recorded with burning micro flame in the absence and pres-
ence of magnetic field. The wrapped interference phase was obtained by
the phase difference between ambient and heated air inside the micro
flame. The temperature profiles are plotted at same flame height 2 mm
from the base of the candle wick along line AB in all the configuration of
magnetic field. The width of the micro-flame is measured by taking the
photograph of the micro-flame by digital photographic camera. The to-
tal pixel value of the flame width in the photograph read by computer is
converted in to micrometer. The widths of micro flame in three different
configuration of magnetic field are shown in Table 1.
4.1. Temperature measurement of micro flame in the case of uniform,
upward decreasing and upward increasing magnetic field
Fig. 5(a) shows the wrapped phase difference maps of micro
flame in the absence of uniform magnetic field. Fig. 5(b) shows the
Fig. 5(c) shows the unwrapped phase difference profile corresponding
to Fig. 5(b). From the unwrapped phase difference of micro flame, the
refractive index difference distribution is evaluated using Area matrix
method across the line AB and shown in Fig. 5(d). Temperature profile
is calculated from experimentally evaluated refractive index difference
profile using Lorentz–Lorenz equation. Fig. 5(e) shows the temperature
profile across the line AB as marked in Fig. 5(a) corresponding to refrac-
tive index difference profile.
Similar steps are followed for the measurement of temperature pro-
file of micro flame in the presence of uniform, upward decreasing and
upward increasing magnetic field. Fig. 6(a) show the wrapped phase
difference maps of micro flame in the presence of uniform magnetic
field and Fig. 6(b) shows the temperature profile along the line AB as
marked in the wrapped phase difference map corresponding to Fig. 6(a).
The maximum temperature of micro flame in the presence of uniform
magnetic field is increased about 86 K (from 782 K to 868 K) in compari-
son to maximum temperature of micro flame in the absence of magnetic
field.
Fig. 7(a) and (b) show the wrapped phase difference maps of micro
diffusion flame in absence and presence of upward decreasing magnetic
field respectively. Fig. 7(c) shows the temperature profile along the line
AB corresponding to Fig. 7(a) and (d) shows the temperature profile
along the line AB corresponding to Fig. 7(b). The maximum temperature
of micro flame is increased about 116 K (from 778 K to 894.9 K) in the
presence of upward decreasing magnetic field.

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Fig. 6. (a) Wrapped phase difference map of micro flame in the presence of uniform
magnetic field. (b) Temperature profile along line AB corresponding to Fig 6(a).
Fig. 8(a) shows the wrapped phase difference maps of micro diffu-
sion flame in the absence of magnetic field. Fig. 8(b) shows the wrapped
phase difference maps of micro diffusion flame in the presence of up-
ward increasing magnetic field. Fig. 8(c) and (d) shows the temperature
profile along the line AB as marked in the wrapped phase difference map
corresponding to Fig. 8(a) and (b). The maximum temperature of micro
flame in the presence of upward increasing magnetic field is decreased
about 36 K (773 K to 737 K) in comparison to maximum temperature of
micro flame in the absence of magnetic field.
4.2. Flame stability
In each case of the magnetic field, the time of execution of the ex-
periment was within 10 min. It was observed that flame was stable dur-
ing the experiment. To establish the stability of micro flame during the
experiment, 12 holograms were recorded in 12 min with burning mi-
cro flame at interval of the 1 min. Fig. 9 (a) shows the reconstructed
Fig. 7. (a) Wrapped phase difference map of micro flame in the absence of upward decreasing magnetic field. (b) Wrapped phase difference map of micro flame in the presence of
upward decreasing magnetic field. (c) Temperature profile along line AB corresponding to Fig 7(a). (d) Temperature profile along line AB corresponding to Fig 7(b).
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Optics and Lasers in Engineering 102 (2017) 161–169
wrapped phase difference of micro flame and ambient air for the 12
recorded holograms respectively. Fig. 9 (b) shows the retrieved temper-
atures profile along line AB for 12 reconstructed phase difference map
corresponding to Fig. 9(a) and (c) shows the variation in maximum tem-
perature at point A for all the 12 retrieved temperature profile shown
in Fig. 9 (b). It is observed that the change in maximum temperature at
point A is ± 4 K from the average temperature 738 K.
4.3. Comparison of normal diffusion flame and micro diffusion flame
Digital holographic interferometry has already been used for the
temperature measurement in normal diffusion flame created from can-
dle. Fig. 10 (a) shows the photograph of normal diffusion flame and
Fig. 10 (b) shows the phase difference map of normal diffusion flame
and ambient air. Fig. 10(c) shows the temperature profile along the line
AB as marked on Fig. 10(b). Fig. 10(d) shows the photograph of micro
diffusion flame and Fig. 10(e) shows the phase difference map of micro
diffusion flame and ambient air. Fig. 10(f) shows the temperature profile
along the line AB as marked in Fig. 10(e). Temperature of micro-flame
at three points ‘a’, ‘b’, and ‘c’ are also measured with Platinum-Platinum
Rhodium thermocouple by setting the reference temperature to 0 °C with
reference point compensation circuit with multi-logger. The measured
temperature difference at three points ‘a’, ‘b’ and ‘c’ by DHI and ther-
mocouple are 12 K, 5 K and 3 K respectively. Besides the centre of micro
flame a good agreement is seen between the temperature value calcu-
lated by DHI and thermocouple. This is because of that, thermocouples
affect the stability of the micro flame and may result in quenching of
flame, as the size of the micro flame is very small (i.e. of the order of
few mm). Therefore near the center of the micro diffusion flame, ther-
mocouple values are not very accurate. From the temperature profile it
can be seen that in micro diffusion flame the temperature distribution at
the central part of micro flame is almost constant and maximum while
temperature at the central part of normal diffusion flame is not constant
S. Agarwal et al. Optics and Lasers in Engineering 102 (2017) 161–169

Fig. 8. (a) Wrapped phase difference map of micro flame in the absence of upward increasing magnetic field. (b) Wrapped phase difference map of micro flame in the presence of
upward increasing magnetic field. (c) Temperature profile along line AB corresponding to Fig 8(a). (d) Temperature profile along line AB corresponding to Fig 8(b).

Fig. 9. (a) Wrapped phase difference map of micro flame and ambient air for the 12 recorded holograms at the interval of 1 min. (b) Temperature profile for the 12 recorded holograms
of micro flame along line AB corresponding to wrapped phase difference maps as shown in Fig 9(a). (c) Variation in maximum temperature (K) of micro flame at Point A versus time
(Minutes) corresponding to temperature profile as shown in Fig 9(b).

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Fig. 10. (a) Photograph of normal diffusion flame. (b) Wrapped phase difference map of normal diffusion flame created from candle and ambient air. (c) Temperature profile along the
line AB as marked on Fig 10(b). (d) Photograph of micro diffusion flame. (e) Wrapped phase difference map of micro diffusion flame created from candle and ambient air. (f) Temperature
profile along the line AB as marked on Fig 10(e).
but there is a dip in temperature from the maximum temperature as it
can be seen from the Fig. 10(c).
5. Discussion
The reason why the magnetic field affects the temperature of the
micro flame is due to the paramagnetic and diamagnetic behavior of
gases in air and combustion products. In combustion field, the magni-
tude of magnetic susceptibility of paramagnetic O2 is much more than
the diamagnetic constituents (i.e. N2 , CO2 , CO, H2 O), so the influence
of gradient magnetic field on the paramagnetic O2 is more prominent
than that of other species controlling the combustion [24].
In case, when the micro flame is kept in upward decreasing magnetic
field as shown by position L in Fig. 4, a magnetic field induced buoy-
ancy flow is generated and gases with different magnetic susceptibilities
experience a magnetic force given by Kelvin’s equation [24]
1 𝜒𝑖
𝐹𝑚𝑎𝑔 = ∇𝐵 2
2 𝜇0
where 𝜒 i is the magnetic susceptibility of chemical species, B is mag-
netic induction (Tesla) and 𝜇 0 is the magnetic permeability of free space
(Henry/metre). In upward decreasing magnetic field, the paramagnetic
oxygen is attracted towards bottom of micro flame from surrounding air
and in this way concentration of oxygen is increased in the reaction zone
of micro flame and it results in complete combustion. So the tempera-
ture of micro flame is increased in the presence of upward decreasing
magnetic field.
In the case, when the micro flame is kept in upward increasing mag-
netic field as shown by position N in Fig. 4, the paramagnetic oxygen
is repelled from the combustion zone of micro flame. This situation is
reversed with the case when the micro flame was placed in the upward
Optics and Lasers in Engineering 102 (2017) 161–169
decreasing magnetic field. This results in decrease of temperature of mi-
cro flame.
In the case, when the micro flame is placed in the uniform magnetic
field as shown by position M in Fig. 4, it is assumed that the surrounding
air to the micro flame and the molten wax are at normal temperature.
The magnetic pressure on flame is attributed to paramagnetic air and
diamagnetic flame properties. The pressure acting on the interfaces of
flame and molten wax Pfw and at the interface of air and flame Paf due
to the presence of magnetic field is given as [43]
( 𝜅𝑓 − 𝜅𝑤 )
𝑃𝑓 𝑤 = 𝐻𝑓2 𝑤 (12)
2
( 𝜅𝑎 − 𝜅𝑓 )
𝑃𝑎𝑓 = 𝐻𝑎𝑓
2
(13)
2
where Pfw is the pressure at the flame and molten wax interface and Paf
is the pressure at air and flame interface due to magnetic field. Pfw and
Paf depends on the 𝜅 (volumetric susceptibility) and the magnetic field
(11)
strengths Hfw and Haf at the interface of the flame and molten wax near
wick and at interface of air and flame respectively. This should not be
confused with the normal atmospheric pressure.
Paraffin wax is a mixture of hydrocarbon molecule and diamagnetic
in nature. The susceptibility of diamagnetic material i.e. molten wax as
well as flame is negative and the susceptibility of air is positive due to
paramagnetic nature. The volumetric susceptibility of air (𝜅 a ) is much
greater than the volumetric susceptibility of flame (𝜅 f ) and molten wax
near the wick (𝜅 w ). If it is assumed that the direction of pressure to-
wards the flame center is positive, the pressure Paf > 0 and Pfw < 0 from
Eqs. (12) and (13), because the susceptibility of ambient air is positive
and larger than the susceptibility of diamagnetic flame and other gases
(paraffin hydrocarbon, N2 , CO2 , water vapor etc.).The pressure Paf at
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S. Agarwal et al.
interface of surrounding air and flame is greater than the pressure Pfw
at the interface of flame and molten wax i.e. (Paf > Pfw ). In a uniform
magnetic field, due to the pressure difference Paf > Pfw the size of the
micro-flame is reduced and it became stable. A decrease in the volume
to surface area of the flame in a uniform magnetic field, results in de-
crease of radiative heat loss [43–44]. It will result in the increase in
temperature of micro flame.
The obtained result of micro diffusion flame under the influence of
uniform magnetic field is found to be different from the previously re-
ported investigations for normal diffusion flames under uniform mag-
netic field [29–30]. A normal large size diffusion flames are controlled
by diffusion and buoyancy [24]. In a uniform magnetic field, as the mag-
netic gradient is zero, the field cannot have a direct influence on normal
diffusion flame but the velocity of chemical reaction is higher than the
diffusion velocity in diffusion flame [30]. According to Gupta et al., in
the equilibrium combustion composition condition a uniform magnetic
field change the combustion composition and decrease the pressure at
the air flame interface [45]. Hence in normal diffusion flame the temper-
ature of flame is slightly decreases in uniform magnetic field [29–30].
While in micro flame, in uniform magnetic field the pressure at the air
flame interface is greater than the pressure at the interface of flame and
molten wax [35,43] hence the temperature of micro flame is increased.
6. Conclusion
In this paper, the effect of uniform and gradient magnetic fields on
the temperature of a wick stabilized micro diffusion flame is investigated
using DHI. The results reveal that the temperature of micro flame is in-
creased when the micro flame is placed in upward decreasing magnetic
field and uniform magnetic field. On the other hand, the temperature
of the micro flame decreased in upward increasing magnetic field. The
proposed technique can also be used for studying the phenomenon of
thermal and chemical quenching in micro flames.
Acknowledgments
The financial assistance received from Science and Engineer-
ing Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology
(DST), Government of India under grant no. SB/S2/LOP34/2013 dated
20/10/2014 is highly acknowledged.
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