Compact hot-nozzle fourier-transform microwave spectormeter

Abstract

A newly constructed pulsed nozzle, Fourier-transform microwave spectrometer utilizes a Fabry-Perot cavity consisting of spherical resonators having diameters of only 10 cm. Tests of this very compact-cavity system show that its sensitivity is only slightly lower than that of a comparably configured system of the Balle-Flygare design having resonators with diameters of 36 cm. With a volume 50 times smaller than in conventional systems, the compact cavity also requires a much smaller vacuum chamber which can be pumped by a relatively small 6 in. diffusion pump. The system includes an integral ceramic nozzle which can be heated to temperatures above 1000 degrees C. Spectrometer characteristics have been demonstrated by means of experiments on OCS isotopomers in ground and excited vibrational states, ArOCS complexes, and chloroketene, a reactive intermediate formed by pyrolysis of chloroacetylchloride. (C) 1995 American Institute of Physics.