Solid State Vanadate Laser and 213 nm Rayleigh Rejection Filter Enable Miniaturized Deep Ultraviolet Raman Spectrometers

A combination of a highly efficient 213 nm Rayleigh rejection filter (RRF) and a miniaturized 213 nm neodymium-doped vanadate laser enables portable deep ultraviolet (UV) Raman spectrometers. We demonstrate the high efficiency of 213 nm RRF manufactured by Green Optics Co., Ltd. by utilizing our compact 213 nm vanadate laser to measure high signal-to-noise ratio UV Raman spectra of Teflon and UV resonance Raman (UVRR) spectra of solid ammonium nitrate. We also demonstrate UVRR detection of trace amounts of ammonia formed during ammonium nitrate UV photolysis. We roughly estimate the ammonia UVRR detection limit of ∼10 ng under our experimental conditions.