We describe a precision sub-Doppler millimeter and submillimeter-wave Lamb-dip spectrometer with a backward-wave oscillator as the radiation source. The effect of nonlinear saturation of the spectral transitions (the Lamb-dip method) is used. The spectrometer resolution (about 5–10 kHz) and the measurement accuracy of the absolute frequencies (of the order of 1 kHz) of molecular transitions in the frequency range below 0.5 THz are discussed. The spectrometer is designed for obtaining accurate radio-astronomy and molecular-spectroscopy experimental data, in particular, when seeking variation in the proton-to-electron mass ratio as a function of time and place in the Universe. The frequency records of the Lamb dips on the spectral lines of the CO, OCS, and H2O molecules, the results of measuring the center frequencies of some transitions, and comparison with the results of other works are presented. The high measurement accuracy allows us to use the molecular-transition frequencies as the secondary frequency standards.
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Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 56, Nos. 8–9, pp. 666–677, August–September 2013.
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Golubiatnikov, G.Y., Belov, S.P., Leonov, I.I. et al. Precision Sub-Doppler Millimeter and Submillimeter Lamb-Dip Spectrometer. Radiophys Quantum El 56, 599–609 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11141-014-9464-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11141-014-9464-2