SPECTROSCOPEY WITH A CW DYE LASER

Author Institution: Quantum Institute, University of California Santa BarbaraA recently constructed CW dye laser has been tuned to excite fluorescence from various small molecules including $BaO, CaCl, and NO_{2}$. The spectral bandwidth of the laser is considerably narrower than the doppler width of the molecular optical transitions, and the laser power is sufficient to begin to saturate most molecular transitions at pressures below 1 torr. This laser has been used as the optical pump in ground state and excited state microwave optical double resonance experiments, as a probe of the relative populations of vibrationally excited states, and to produce photoluminescence progressions originating from single excited state rotational levels. This work was supported in part by Army Grant No. DA-ARO-D-31-124-72-G181, NSF Grant Nos. NSF-GP-14011 and NSF-GP-35672X, and AFOSR Grant No. AFOSR-70-1851