Determination of light-absorbing layers at inner capillary surface by cw excitation crossed-beam thermal-lens spectrometry

A thermal-lens spectrometric unit suitable for selective quantitative measurements of light-absorbing layers adsorbed onto the inner surface of a quartz glass capillary is described. The quantitative description of the thermal-lens signal generated in a quartz glass capillary with a light-absorbing layer at the inner surface of capillary is developed, which is based on the description for the thermal-lens experiment in the layered solids presented elsewhere. The accuracy of calculations is demonstrated by the comparison of predicted results with the experimental data and those predicted by the conventional theory. The data achieved prove the accuracy of calculations both for the time dependent thermal-lens signal and for the lock-in amplifier signal under variation of the spectrometer configuration for capillaries having an adsorbed layer. The proposed technique is used for the investigation of chromate/2,10-ionene and 4-aminoazobenzene adsorption at capillary walls. The estimates of the minimum light absorption detectable at capillary walls are at a level of 1 × 10−5 abs. units; the linear range of the thermal-lens signal from the inner surface layer no less than three orders of magnitude is predicted.