ABSTRACT
This chapter explores a number of promising applications of laser-absorption spectroscopy. It reviews applications of laser-absorption spectroscopy in chemical-reaction diagnostics, chemical-concentration monitoring, chemical-process control, vapor-density monitoring, and isotope separation. Tunable lasers with narrow spectral bandwidths and high brightness have made possible many new types of analytical absorption measurements. The advent of lasers, in particular tunable lasers, has greatly expanded the field of spectroscopy in many areas. Absorption spectroscopy is the study of the attenuation of electromagnetic radiation by matter. In absorption, a photon of electromagnetic radiation is absorbed by a particle that is in a particular quantum state characterized by a certain energy level. After absorption, the particle makes a transition to a higher energy level. The sensitivity of the conventional absorption spectrometer is determined by the lowest measurable light attenuation in the absorption cell, which is usually set by intensity fluctuations of the light source and by detector noise.
