The key feature of the Integrating Cavity Absorption Meter (ICAM) is that it produces an
isotropic illumination of the liquid sample and thereby dramatically minimizes scattering
effects. The ICAM can produce an effective optical path length up to several meters. As a
consequence, it is capable of measuring absorption coefficients as low as 0.001 m-1. The
early version of the ICAM was used previously to measure the absorption spectrum of pure
water over the 380-700 nm range. To extend its range into the ultraviolet, several
modifications have been completed. The preliminary tests showed that the modified ICAM
was able to measure the absorption of pure water for the wavelength down to 300 nm. After
extensive experimental investigation and analysis, we found that the absorption of
Spectralonî (the highly diffusive and reflective material used to build the ICAM) has a
higher impact on measurements of absorption in the UV range than we had expected.
Observations of high values for pure water absorption in the UV, specifically between 300
and 360 nm, are a consequence of absorption by the Spectralonî. These results indicated
that even more serious modifications were required (e.g. Spectralonî can not be used for a
cavity in the UV). Consequently, we developed a new diffuse reflecting material and used
fused silica powder (sub-micron level) sealed inside a quartz cell to replace the inner Spectralonî cavity of the ICAM. The new data is in excellent agreement with the Pope and
Fry data (380-600 nm) and fills the gap between the 320 nm data of Quickenden and Irvin
and 380 nm data of Pope and Fry. We present definitive results for the absorption spectrum
of pure water between 300 and 600 nm.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/5828 |
| Date | 17 September 2007 |
| Creators | Lu, Zheng |
| Contributors | Fry, Edward S. |
| Publisher | Texas A&M University |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | 3519454 bytes, electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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