Advanced combustion processes induced by self-ignition mechanisms in piston engines, such as Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI), especially need an accurate spatio-temporal temperature information because their phenomenology therefore their performances highly depend on the thermal conditions. The objective of this study is to measure the temperature distribution inside a rapid compression machine (RCM) along the compression stroke using anisole planar laser induced fluorescence. The present paper gives a new insight into the interpretation of RCM autoignition data. It also brings useful information for kineticsrelated combustion research and combustion modeling. The anisole planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) technique is applied, in order to observe the formation and the evolution of temperature heterogeneities in the combustion chamber prior to the auto-ignition process. Anisole is used as a novel tracer species, and the fluorescence signal's dependence on parameters, such as temperature, pressure and bath gas composition, is quantified in a high-pressure, high-temperature facility. Calibration of the fluorescence signal is defined under RCM-related temperature and pressure conditions and a protocol is proposed for post-processing of the PLIF image sequences, allowing the quantitative field temperatures to be determined at successive instants following compression. In order to gain a better understanding of the mixture process, Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) measurements are analysed under the same conditions. The correlation between thermal and aerodynamic phenomena is determined. The temperature field is found to be non-uniform, with hot and cold centre positions resulting from recirculation inside the chamber, combined with heat transfer effects from the chamber wall. (C) 2015 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.