Automated optoacoustic spectrometer for the near-infrared range based on a color-center laser and its applications in the spectroscopy of molecular gas overtones

A description is given of the construction and characteristics of an optoacoustic gas absorption spectrometer based on an LiF :F₂^– laser operating in the rarely employed spectral range 1.10–1.22 μ. Optimization of the parameters of the color-center laser and of the optoacoustic detector made it possible to achieve a high sensitivity (10^–7 cm^–1) in a wide dynamic range with a spectral resolution of 0.1 cm^–1 . The spectrometer was found to be suitable for the study of overtone vibrational states of molecular gases.