Abstract

The transfer functions $\tilde{S}$(σ) of infrared spectrometers for incoherent illumination are determined using a lamellar grating interferometer. The spectrometer is illuminated with incoherent radiation and the spectral distribution S(ν − ν₀) of its output radiation is studied with the interferometer. The interferometer output F(σ) is the Fourier transform of S(ν − ν₀), and the envelope of F(σ) yields directly the transfer function $\tilde{S}$(σ) of the spectrometer. This technique is used rather than the usual one of using a narrow spectral line because no such lines from thermal sources are available in the far-infrared. Laser radiation is unsuitable because it would yield the transfer function of a spectrometer in coherent radiation and this function is of no use for the majority of experiments where the spectrometer is incoherently illuminated. Experimental measurements show a good agreement with theoretically predicted results.

© 1966 Optical Society of America

High-Resolution Grating Spectrometer for the Far Infrared

F. K. Kneubühl, J.-F. Moser, and H. Steffen
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 56(6) 760-764 (1966)

Two Methods of Measuring Optical Transfer Functions with an Interferometer*†

Anthony J. Montgomery
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 56(5) 624-629 (1966)

PEPSIOS Purely Interferometric High-Resolution Scanning Spectrometer. III. Calculation of Interferometer Characteristics by a Method of Optical Transients*

John O. Stoner
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Near-Infrared Planetary Spectra by Fourier Spectroscopy. I. Instruments and Results

Janine Connes and Pierre Connes
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 56(7) 896-910 (1966)

Total Absorptance of Ammonia in the Infrared*

Wilbur L. France and Dudley Williams
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 56(1) 70-74 (1966)