TI-SAPPHIRE LASER SPECTROMETER FOR DOPPLER-LIMITED MOLECULAR-SPECTROSCOPY

A newly developed Ti:sapphire laser spectrometer is described that per forms wideband Doppler-limited molecular spectroscopy at wavelengths r anging from 755 to 895 nm. Spectrometer performance was evaluated by u se of the spectra of acetylene, C-13-acetylene, and oxygen. A nearly c ontinuous spectral recording over 300 cm(-1) was carried out with a re latively simple frequency scanning system. With a tone-burst frequency -modulation technique, the spectrometer's minimum detectable absorptio n Delta I/I was 5 x 10(-5) at a time constant of 100 ms. The absolute accuracy of the wave-number measurements with a precise wavemeter was 1.5 X 10(-3) cm(-1) for the 790-nm C-13-acetylene Lines.