Detection of the Gaseous Pollutant Sulfur Dioxide Using Current Tunable Pb_1−x Snx Te Diode Lasers

Abstract

Current tunable semiconductor lasers of Pb(1-x)Sn(x)Te have been used to investigate the ir spectrum of sulfur dioxide at high resolution near 1130 cm(-1). The diode lasers emit radiation in a line of width <10(-5) cm(-1) thus providing much higher resolution than has been possible with the best grating spectrometer. The effects of self-broadening and broadening by nitrogen to a pressure of 760 Torr are presented, and some characteristics of the laser source such as stability and reproducibility are discussed.