Abstract
Diatomic gas molecules have a fundamental vibrational motion whose frequency is affected by pressure in a simple way. In addition, these molecules have well defined rotational energy levels whose populations provide a reliable measure of the thermodynamic temperature. Since information concerning the frequency of vibration and the relative populations can be determined by laser spectroscopy, the gas molecules themselves can serve as sensors of pressure and temperature. Through measurements under static conditions, the pressure and temperature dependence of the spectra of selected molecules is now understood. As the time required for the spectroscopic measurement can be reduced to nanoseconds, the diatomic gas molecule is an excellent candidate for a dynamic pressure/temperature primary standard. The temporal response in this case will be limited by the equilibration time for the molecules to respond to changes in local thermodynamic variables. Preliminary feasibility studies suggest that by using coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy we will be able to measure dynamic pressure up to 10(8) Pa and dynamic temperature up to 1500 K with an uncertainty of 5%.