The division has its origin in activities initiated by Professor Sune Svanberg at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, where the later Head of division at Combustion Physics, Professor Marcus Aldén, made his Master’s thesis in 1977 within the area of Laser-based Combustion Diagnostics. As Sune Svanberg got a professorship in Atomic physics at Lund University 1980, Marcus Aldén and the combustion diagnostics research moved with him. In the mid 1980’s the Lund University Combustion Centre was initiated. The Combustion Centre has from the start been characterized by a close cooperation between the laser diagnostic activities at the Department of Physics and the research activities at the Department of Energy Sciences and Fire engineering.

In 1991, the combustion research within the Division of Atomic physics had grown substantially which led to the initiation of a new division, the Division of Combustion Physics. Marcus Aldén was the first Head of Division that now included laser-based measurements of combustion and sparks as well as chemical modelling of combustion. The expanding activities and successful fundraising was the foundation for a new building that could accommodate the growing combustion activities. The new building was finished in 2001 and was named the Enoch Thulin Laboratory after the aviator and PhD in Physics, Enoch Thulin (1881-1919). The new building included modern laboratories custom-made for combustion studies and a high-pressure combustion rig, to ensure continuous strong research activities with strong representation from other partners within the Combustion Centre.

Within this new building our activities has continued in developing our advanced laser-based techniques based on fundamental physics to wider applications for a sustainable future. Laser-based diagnostics are now developed towards understanding conversion of carbon-neutral and carbon-free fuels. These tools are also developed for diagnostics to understand phenomena in a variety of research areas such as catalysis, spray formation, pollutant formation, nanomaterials, entomology, molecular dynamics, battery thermal runaway, medical applications, plasma proccesses, remote sensing, and atmospheric aerosol processes. Many of these phenomena and processes involve chemical reactions, hence chemical kinetic modelling is another important research activity at the division. For more information on different projects see our research page.