ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION There have been relatively few reported investigations of the infra-red absorption and emission characteristics of light sources. The majority of optical lamp diagnostic techniques are performed in the UV-visible regions of the spectrum where they exploit low lying (higher energy) atomic and molecular electronic transitions. The FT-IR absorption technique is certainly used also as a lamp diagnostic, exploiting the fact that the vibration-rotation spectral signatures of common dosant gases, and of several of the most important gaseous impurities, lie in the near infra-red region and are accessible through "windows" in the absorption profiles of the common envelope materials..
