Metrology with IR gas lasers: frequency measurements of fluorescence-stabilized CO2 and N2O lasers

Summary form only given, as follows. Saturated-fluorescence-stabilized CO₂ and NO₂ lasers provide excellent frequency and wavelength standards in the infrared region from 9 to 11.3 microns. An ultra-high-resolution low-loss infrared laser oscillating on more than 400 lines of CO₂ or N₂O, provides a radiation source for the extension of frequency measurement to high J regular band lines and lines of other bands of CO₂ and N₂O including the 9 micron band to be described in Maki to Maki. These measurements yield new molecular constants and a new set of standard frequencies and wavelengths in the infrared. The laser design and the experimental details are described, and the results are presented. A far-infrared (FIR) spectrometer has been built using the difference frequencies from a pair of fluorescence stabilized CO₂ lasers. This spectrometer provides a tunable source of FIR radiation which is highly accurate for measuring FIR spectra. Highly accurate rotational molecular constants of CO and NO have been measured with this spectrometer, and these measurements are presented