Spectrophone measurements of infrared laser energy absorption by atmospheric dust.

A new method of quantitatively measuring the absorption of atmospheric dust or other particulate matter is described. The system uses a differential-spectrophone KBr pellet technique and should ultimately prove useful from the uv to the far ir wavelength region. Preliminary measurement data on atmospheric dust, quartz, and soot are presented at 1.06-microm, 9.6-microm, and 10.6-microm wavelengths.