Abstract

A Zeeman-tuned cw xenon laser differential absorption device is described. The xenon laser was tuned by axial magnetic fields up to 5500 G generated by an unusually large water-cooled dc solenoid. Xenon laser lines at 3.37 μ, 3.51 μ, and 3.99 μ were tuned over ranges of 6 Å, 6 Å, and 11 Å, respectively. To date, this apparatus has been used principally to study the details of formaldehyde absorption lines lying near the 3.508-μ xenon laser transition. These experiments revealed that the observed absorption spectrum of formaldehyde exhibits a sufficiently unique spectral structure that the present technique may readily be used to measure relative concentrations of formaldehyde in samples of polluted air.

© 1973 Optical Society of America

Absorption Line Parameter Measurements Using Laser Spectroscopy

Z. Kucerovsky, E. Brannen, D. G. Rumbold, and W. J. Sarjeant
Appl. Opt. 12(2) 226-231 (1973)

Zeeman Effect at 3.39 Microns in a Helium–Neon Laser

W. E. Bell and A. L. Bloom
Appl. Opt. 3(3) 413-415 (1964)

Absorption Measurements of Carbon Monoxide Laser Radiation by Water Vapor

D. K. Rice
Appl. Opt. 12(2) 218-225 (1973)

Absorption spectra of krypton and xenon in their regions of autoionization*

Virginia L. Carter and Robert D. Hudson
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 63(6) 733-735 (1973)

Very Long Lasers

Gary J. Linford, Eugene R. Peressini, Walter R. Sooy, and Mary L. Spaeth
Appl. Opt. 13(2) 379-390 (1974)