A modified equivalent-width technique for diode-laser line strength measurements

Abstract

A modified equivalent-width method is introduced that improves the accuracy of spectral line strength measurements using diode lasers. This method differs from the standard method in that we do not attempt to calculate the true equivalent width in order to determine the line strength. Instead, we derive the line strength directly from a measurement of the area under the line close to the line center and ignore the normal correction terms. Tests with actual spectra and simulations indicate that this method is accurate to better than 1% with lines broadened by up to 50% by the laser instrument function.