Improvements In Long Path Absorption Cell Measurements.

Abstract

Improvements which greatly reduce the data acquistion time and increase the accuracy of long-path absorption cell measurements upon which the choice and further development of many Army laser-based systems depend are discussed. path differencing, a new technique for measuring absorption coefficients, is described. Path differencing effectively gives the massive cells and intricate optical and detection systems used in long-path absorption cell experiments the real-time calibration of double-beam spectrometer systems. This calibration results in a factor of 4 to 5 in improvement in reproducibility. Techniques of weighted averages are discussed for obtaining best fit absorption data, and a detection and correction scheme for system nonlinearities is given. A method for determining errors in absorption coefficients from data at different partial pressures of an absorbing gas and characterizing nonlinear pressure dependencies is also included. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1976
Accession Number
ADA023079

Entities

People

  • Wendell R. Watkins

Organizations

  • United States Army Communications-Electronics Command

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Absorption
  • Absorption Coefficients
  • Accuracy
  • Calibration
  • Coefficients
  • Detection
  • Errors
  • Measurement
  • Measuring Instruments
  • Partial Pressure
  • Pressure Measurement
  • Reproducibility

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Approximation Theory.
  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Spectroscopy.

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy
  • Directed Energy - Lasers