The NIST FT700 Vacuum Ultraviolet Fourier Transform Spectrometer: applications in ultraviolet spectrometry and radiometry

In the minds of many, Fourier transform spectrometry is restricted to applications in the infrared. In the ultraviolet the increasingly severe demands on optical, data acquisition, and motion control systems of the interferometer diminish the effectiveness of the technique. However, with recent advances in ultraviolet optics, data acquisition and sampling techniques for Fourier transform spectrometers, these stringent demands are easier to meet at vacuum ultraviolet wavelengths and significantly reduce the cost of Fourier transform spectrometers. The FT700 spectrometer at NIST can operate at wavelengths as low as 140 nm, limited by the short wavelength cut-off of the calcium fluoride optics. We illustrate the capabilities of the FT700 spectrometer in the ultraviolet with several recent results in atomic emission spectrometry, plasma diagnostics, and refractometry.