Grating Spectrometer Will Aid Studies of Unknown Spectrum
Chemical & Engineering News · 1952
An instrument to probe atomic and molecular characteristics which have been beyond the reach of scientific tools has been developed by a team of researchers at the University of California. The instrument, a grating spectrometer designed to explore electromagnetic wave lengths in the far infrared, was described by Kenneth Pitzer, dean of the university's College of Chemistry, at the recent meeting of the National Academy of Sciences in St. Louis. Since there is no prism available to analyze light between 35,000 and 1 million A. of wave length, Dr. Pitzer and his colleagues have resorted to other methods. As a substitute for prisms, the scientists use a metal grating on which carefully shaped grooves are machined at a rate of hundreds per inch. The light reflected off this surface is separated into its various components by interference phenomena of the lines. Other features of the instrument include an oscillating salt plate which chops the infrared ...