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Date of Award

2022

Document Type

Campus Access Master's Report

Degree Name

Master of Science in Physics (MS)

Administrative Home Department

Department of Physics

Advisor 1

Jacek Borysow

Committee Member 1

Claudio Mazzoleni

Committee Member 2

Raymond Shaw

Abstract

Raman spectroscopy is a widely used, highly versatile, and non-destructive method for characterizing the molecular makeup of unknown samples. In nearly all applications the vibrational modes of the constituent molecules provide the mechanism by which the laser light is inelastically scattered and consequently identified. However, the rotational modes of these molecules provide much greater relative rates of inelastic scattering than the vibrational modes. Unfortunately, due to the nature of current filters used in Raman spectroscopy when the laser light is filtered out so is the light scattered by the pure rotational modes. In this research, we propose the use of a Rubidium vapor cell filled with a buffer gas of Argon as a viable ultra-narrow notch filter. This filter would provide a robust laser rejection without removing the light scattered by the pure rotational modes of molecules. Measurement of the pure rotational spectrum of gases can have numerous applications such as precision measurement of exhaled gases for medical diagnostics, highly accurate remote measurement of atmospheric temperatures, and extremely sensitive detection of dangerous air contamination in dusty environments.

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