Ziurys Group Rotational Spectroscopy Research

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Velocity Modulation Spectrometer Block Diagram Below is a block diagram of the velocity modulation spectrometer. The radiation source, detector, and phase-locking electronics are similar to the low temperature spectrometer. The main differences concern the reaction chamber, optics, and detection scheme. The reaction chamber is a methanol-cooled glass vacuum cell, which contains two ring discharge electrodes. The optics scheme is a single-pass system with two lenses on either end of the reaction cell. An AC discharge is created in the glass cell to create molecular ions.  The frequency of the AC discharge is used to selectively detect these ions using a technique known as velocity modulation.