Abstract

When a laser beam traverses a weakly absorbing solution a thermal lens is formed due to heating of the liquid (a manifestation of the thermooptic effect). A new technique based upon this phenomenon has been developed to measure small absorptivities α of solutions. This method involves insertion of a cell containing a weakly absorbing solution into the cavity of a normally cw dye laser. When the plane output coupler of the laser is misaligned (tilted) slightly, the laser begins pulsed operation at ~4 Hz.

© 1981 Optical Society of America