Characteristics of intracavity spectroscopy utilizing sweep dye lasers

An analysis is made of intracavity absorption spectroscopy in which sweep dye lasers are used. It is shown that a suitable selection of the sweep rate can broaden the dynamic range of the selective insertion losses by 3–4 orders of magnitude without affecting the response linearity. The spectral interval in which losses can be recorded with practically the same sensitivity in the course of one laser pulse is limited only by the gain band of the dye. Expressions are obtained which describe the shape of an absorption dip in the case of a Gaussian profile of the insertion losses.