Resolving power grating

Apart from using the grating in zero order so that it works like a mirror, maintaining a (compact) round beam at the camera (A = 1) requires that the spectrograph adopt the Littrow configuration for which Tf = 0 and the incident and diffracted rays are parallel. From equations 6 and 9, the resolving power at blaze in the Littrow configuration is... 

Figure 9. Predicted resolving power for CMOS equipped with the gratings described in Table 1 and slit width 0,5 arcsec. Those prefixed by X are hypothetical immersed gratings with prism vertex angle, (j>, given in the Table 1. The dots mark the nominal blaze condition. The box marks the requirements for measuring the velocity dispersion of dSph galaxies using the Calcium triplet.

Thus, dispersion of the grating increases as d decreases (i.e., as the grating contains more lines per cm). Also, dispersion is not a function of k, and the linear dispersion is therefore a constant, unlike in the case of a prism. The resolving power of a diffraction grating is proportional to the size of the grating and the order of the diffraction used. 

Let us cite an example to help us judge the equivalence between Fourier and dispersive instruments. A grating spectrometer employing a four-passed 8 x 104-line grating in the first order has a resolving power of 4 x 8 x 104 = 3.2 x 105. At 3200 cm -1 in the near infrared, this instrument has a Rayleigh resolution of 10" 2 cm- L The same resolution can be achieved by a Fourier... 

The use of CW tunable semiconductor lasers as a source in IR spectroscopy research makes possible a very great increase in resolving power over traditional IR grating spectrometers. IR studies with laser sources have been done on several gases (e.g., H20,NH3,SF6,N0). The laser line width is typically 1/100th the width of the Doppler-broadened absorption lines of the gases, so the fine details of the IR line shapes are... 

The besl isolation of radiant energy can he achieved with flame spectrometers that incorporate either a prism sir grating monochromator, those with prisms having variable gauged entrance and exii slits. Both these spectrometers provide a continuous selection of wavelengths with resolving power sufficient lo separate completely most of the easily excited emission lines, and afford freedom from scattered radiation sufficient lo minimize interferences. Fused silica or quartz optical components are necessary to permit measurements in Ihe ultraviolet portion of the spectrum below 350 nanometers Sec also Analysis (Chemical) Atomic Spectroscopy Photometers and Spectra Instruments. 

The resolving power of a grating thus is better in higher orders and for small groove spac-ings. It is also linear in the total number of grooves illuminated i.e., it is proportional to the width of the grating. 

Eqs. 3.1-19 and 3.1-25, which describe the relation between the characteristics of gratings and prisms and the theoretical resolving power Ro, give the optical conductance of grating and prism spectrometers. We may write... 

A is fixed by the construction of the instrument, whereas B varies with A according to Eq. (17). The resolving power R depends on the number of grooves in the grating N and the order of interference ... 

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