Broadband 308 nm vibrational Raman spectroscopy of gaseous species using a potassium hydrogen phthalate liquid filter and polarization fluorescence suppression.

Broadband XeCl excimer lasers operating at 308 nm are not currently used in the field of gas phase vibrational Raman spectroscopy (VRS). An explanation as to why alternative wavelengths, and in particular tuneable, narrowband lasers are currently preferred for gas phase VRS is presented in addition to demonstrating a setup which makes the XeCl laser a viable alternative when considering excitation sources for VRS. A solution of potassium hydrogen phthalate is shown to be a practical low-pass liquid filter and to reduce substantially the effects of Rayleigh scattering on collected Raman spectra. The use of a commercial beam polarizer is also shown to be effective in suppressing background fluorescence that otherwise necessitates the use of expensive tuneable, narrowband lasers when performing VRS with sources of background fluorescence. Finally, an unconventional excitation beam arrangement is shown to produce viable Raman spectra from which species concentrations and distributions can be determined.