Abstract
The use of modern diffraction gratings and photoconducting detectors makes possible the measurement of the wavelengths of infrared absorption lines to a precision amounting to a small fraction of the Doppler breadth of the lines themselves. The main difficulties encountered in making measurements to this precision seem to be in the scanning and interpolation procedures plus displacement errors arising from inexact superposition of known wavelengths on the spectrum to be measured.
Making use of absorption lines as standards and a single light source eliminates displacement errors. Proper scanning techniques can reduce interpolation errors to insignificance. Coarse blazed gratings of very high degree of perfection are now available. Making use of the method of coincidences in high orders, such gratings can be used to effectively multiply the small number of accurately measured absorption lines available, so that only short interpolations between standard lines are necessary throughout the 1 to 4μ region.
© 1960 Optical Society of America
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