AUTO-ALIGNED FOURIER TRANSFORM ULTRAVIOLET SPECTROMETER

A DEMONSTRATION OF A TECHNIQUE TO ACTIVELY STABILIZE THE OPTICAL ALIGNMENT OF A MICHELSON INTERFEROMETER SPECTROMETERFOR OPERATION IN THE ULTRAVIOLET REGION OF THE SPECTRUM IS PROPOSED. THE TECHNIQUE INVOLVES THE APPLICATION OF A METROLOGY SYSTEM BASED ON A TWO-FREQUENCY LASER TO MEASURE AND GENERATE FEEDBACK SIGNALS FOR ACTIVE CONTROL OF THE INTERFEROMETER MIRROR. THE PROGRAM WOULD PROCEED IN TWO PHASES. THE FIRST PHASE WOULD INVOLVE THE DEMONSTRATION OF THE ABILITY OF THE PROPOSED TECHNIQUE TO MAINTAIN INTERFEROMETER ALIGNMENT FOR PATH LENGTHS CONSISTENT WITH 0.25 WAVENUMBER RESOLUTION AT 300 NANOMETERS USING THE COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE OPTRALITE TWO FREQUENCY LASER AS DEVELOPED BY OPTRA. THE SECOND PHASE OF THE PROGRAM WOULD INVOLVE THE REPLACEMENT OF THE TWO-FREQUENCY GAS LASER WITH A RECENTLY DEVELOPED TECHNIQUE USING A CHIRPED DIODE LASER TO PROVIDE ESSENTIALLY THE SAME REFERENCE SYSTEM AND SIGNALSAS AVAILABLE WITH THE GAS LASER.