A Rayleigh-Brillouin scattering spectrometer for ultraviolet wavelengths

A spectrometer for the measurement of spontaneous Rayleigh-Brillouin (RB) scattering line profiles at ultraviolet wavelengths from gas phase molecules has been developed, employing a high-power frequency-stabilized UV-laser with narrow bandwidth (2 MHz). The UV-light from a frequency-doubled titanium: sapphire laser is further amplified in an enhancement cavity, delivering a 5 W UV-beam propagating through the interaction region inside a scattering cell. The design of the RB-scattering cell allows for measurements at gas pressures in the range 0-4 bars and at stably controlled temperatures from -30 degrees C to 70 degrees C. A scannable Fabry-Perot analyzer with instrument resolution of 232 MHz probes the RB profiles. Measurements on N-2 and SF6 gases demonstrate that the high signal-to-noise ratio is achievable with the instrument at the 1% level at the peak amplitude of the scattering profile. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4721272]