Published November 15, 1981 | Version v1
Journal article

Thermally induced laser pulsing to measure weak optical absorptions

  • 1. University of California, Los Alamos National Laboratory, P.O. Box 1663, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545

Description

Intracavity thermal lensing has been used to convert a cw dye laser to pulsed operation. The pulse width is a measure of the absorptivity of the solution in the cell. Experimental data are presented to show how this technique can be used to measure the absorptivity of a pure solvent and the concentration of a solute. The absorptivities (base e)of water, CH3OH, CH3COCH3, and CCl4 were determined to be, respectively, (1.24 +- 0.17) x 10-3, (1.01 +- 0.07) x 10-3, (1.74 +- 0.09) x 10-4, and (3.95 +- 3.40) x 10-6 cm-1. For CCl4 in 10-cm sample cell, the minimum detectable absorptivity is approx.4 x 10-6 cm-1

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Appl. Opt.
Journal Volume
20
Journal Issue
22
Series
Appl. Opt.
Journal Page Range
3838-3848
ISSN
0003-6935