Abstract

A quick and simple technique for determining line of sight number densities in atomic vapor ovens will be presented. The technique is based on measuring the frequency-dependent distortion of interference fringe profiles which is produced when an absorbing vapor is placed in one arm of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. In contrast to previous interferometric methods, in which only the peak intensity positions of the fringes are measured, this method relies on measuring the entire intensity profiles of the fringes. This is made possible by placing a 1024-channel diode array detector at the exit plane of a spectrograph. The density is then determined with a precision of 1 % or better by fitting the experimental data to a simple analytic expression.

© 1985 Optical Society of America