Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy & Radiative Transfer 222–223 (2019) 84–88 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy & Radiative Transfer journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jqsrt Measurement of pressure shift and broadening for Ar and Kr 4s[3/2] 2 → 4p[5/2] 3 transition in rare gases using diode-laser spectroscopy A.K. Chernyshov a,b , P.A. Mikheyev a,b,∗ , N.I. Ufimtsev a a Lebedev Physical Institute, 443011, Samara, Russia b Samara National Research University, 443086, Samara, Russia a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 10 August 2018 Revised 12 September 2018 Accepted 4 October 2018 Available online 9 October 2018 Keywords: Spectral line pressure shift Diode-laser absorption spectroscopy Optically pumped all-rare-gas laser Metastable argon and krypton atoms Radio-frequency discharge a b s t r a c t In this work simultaneous measurements of pressure broadening and shift coefficients for 811.5 nm Ar and 811.3 nm Kr spectral lines of the 4s[3/2] 2 → 4p[5/2] 3 transition were performed. Assessment of gas temperature was done by determining Doppler width components of the lines’ Voigt profiles. Pressure shift coefficients for the mixtures Ar:Ne, Kr:Ne and Kr:Ar were determined for the first time. Their val- ues in units of 10 -10 s -1 cm 3 , reduced to 300 K are: β Ar:Ne = -0.51 ± 0.05, β Kr:Ne = -0.65 ± 0.01, β Kr:Ar = - 2.07 ± 0.08. Additionally we demonstrated the use of easily available starters for fluorescent lamps as sealed Ar discharge cells for reference optical frequency. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Recently a relatively simple laboratory method for tailoring cheap multi-mode diode lasers for spectroscopy needs was de- veloped [1,2] and used to determine pressure broadening coeffi- cients of interest for optically pumped rare gas laser (OPRGL) [3]. OPRGL is a chemically passive alternative to a diode pumped alkali laser DPAL [4]. DPAL and OPRGL attracted considerable attention because of their possibility to obtain optical power at a level of several kilowatts from a volume of a few tens of cubic centime- ters. However, DPAL possess intrinsic technical difficulties associ- ated with high reactivity of the alkali metals. Recently, lasing was demonstrated in OPRGL employing metastables of all heavier rare gases (neon, argon, krypton and xenon) [5] instead of alkali atoms. By now 55% optical efficiency [6] and more than 3 W output [7] were achieved. These lasers op- erate according to the traditional three-level scheme with a high lasing threshold. An electric discharge provides the population of the metastable (Rg ∗ ) lower laser level, optical pumping populates the pump level and subsequent collisional energy transfer popu- lates the upper laser level. Efficient laser operation is possible only at an atmospheric pressure. ∗ Corresponding author at P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute, Samara, Samara univer- sity, 221 Novo-Sadovaya st., 443011 Samara, Russian Federation E-mail address: chak@fian.smr.ru (A.K. Chernyshov). However, even at an atmospheric pressure, the absorption spec- tral lines of pumping transitions are quite narrow – their FWHMs are only ∼15 GHz for Ne, Ar, Kr and ∼20 GHz for Xe [3,8]. There- fore, shift and broadening coefficients have to be known with good accuracy, so the pumping diode lasers could be tuned to the 4s[3/2] 2 → 4p[5/2] 3 transition (811.5 nm for Ar and 811.3 nm for Kr) precisely. 2. Description of the method The method for measurement of the pressure shift coefficients is a modification of the method developed in [3] and allows measuring pressure broadening and shift coefficients. According to Lindhom-Foley theory [9,10] at moderate temperatures these coefficients exhibit T 0.3 temperature dependence and the partial shift of an absorption line ν Rg [Hz] depends on partial pressure P Rg [Torr] of a rare gas collider Rg and temperature T[K] as follows: ν Rg = 3.22 × 10 16 × β Rg (T 0 ) ×  T 0 T 0.7 × P Rg (1) Here T 0 is the reference temperature 300 K and the coefficient 3.22 × 10 16 [cm -3 Torr -1 ] is the number density of collider parti- cles at 1 Torr and 300 K. In a gas mixture, as follows from (1), to determine the pressure shift coefficient β Rg (T 0 )[s −1 cm 3 ] for the collider it is necessary to measure the partial shift of the spectral line ν Rg , gas temperature T and its partial pressure P Rg in a gas https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jqsrt.2018.10.010 0022-4073/© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.