Optoacoustic detection of multiple photon molecular absorption in a strong IR field

A new method based on the optoacoustic effect has been proposed to measure multiple photon absorption at vibrational molecular transitions in a strong IR laser field. Comparison measurements of the average absorbed energy have been done by this method for molecules with different dissociation limits in a strong CO₂-laser field, the field intensity changed therewith by four orders. For the poly-atomic molecules C₂H₄ and SF₆ having a comparatively low dissociation limit, the absorption increases monotonously as the power density of laser radiation P increases up to the dissociation limit. For three-atom molecules, such as D₂O and OCS, absorption saturation takes place with P ? 10 MW/cm².