Infrared intracavity laser absorption spectroscopy with a continuous-scan Fourier-transform interferometer

High-quality broadband infrared high-resolution spectra were obtained by use of the intracavity laser absorption spectroscopy technique with a Ti:sapphire laser in combination with a continuous-scan Fourier-transform (FT) interferometer. With electronic filtering used to smooth out the fluctuations of the laser power, the absorption of atmospheric water vapor in the range of 12,450-12,700 cm(-1) was recorded at a resolution of 0.05 cm(-1). A signal-to-noise ratio of greater than 300 was observed in this spectrum, corresponding to a minimum detectable absorption of approximately 2 x 10(-9) cm(-1). Comparison with previous measurements by use of a conventional FT technique shows that this method gives absorption spectra with highly accurate line positions along with reasonable line intensities. Investigation of the evolution of intracavity laser absorption spectra with the generation time is also shown to be possible with a continuous-scan FT spectrometer by use of the interleave rapid-scan method. (C) 2000 Optical Society of America.