Spatially resolved concentration studies of ground state atoms in a flame: saturated absorption spectroscopic method

The authors describe the application of the saturated absorption spectroscopic method, introduced by Goldsmith, Optics Letters6, 525 (1981), to the determination of spatially resolved concentrations of ground state atoms in a flame. In the described version of the method, the beam of a single pulsed dye laser is divided into a probing and a disturing (= saturating beam), which intersect in a small volume of the flame. The perturbance of the probing beam by the saturating beam is a function of the concentration of the absorbing species. The authors foresee this method to become an important tool for flame and plasma diagnostic studies.