Three dimensional optical imaging of irregularly shaped plasma jets

This communication presents an algorithm for reconstructing the 3D distribution of optical radiation from a plasma object of irregular shape. The object is seen by a camera at three different angles. The photo density profiles in each single line of the three images are presented as sums of Gaussians; the reconstruction is made by means of a set of equations that relate radiation intensity in a 2D mesh to the Gaussian amplitudes. An example based on photographs of a typical plasma jet used for atmospheric plasma spraying is worked out.