A calibration method for broad-bandwidth cavity enhanced absorption spectroscopy performed with supercontinuum radiation

An efficient calibration method has been developed for broad-bandwidth cavity enhanced absorption spectroscopy. The calibration is performed using phase shift cavity ring-down spectroscopy, which is conveniently implemented through use of an acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF). The AOTF permits a narrowband portion of the SC spectrum to be scanned over the full high-reflectivity bandwidth of the cavity mirrors. After calibration the AOTF is switched off and broad-bandwidth CEAS can be performed with the same light source without any loss of alignment to the set-up. We demonstrate the merits of the method by probing transitions of oxygen molecules O-2 and collisional pairs of oxygen molecules (O-2)(2) in the visible spectral range

Development as a form of religious engineering? Religion and secularity in development discourse

The burgeoning literature on religion and development tends to frame development as a project of post-WWII secular modernism and hence postulates a new ‘discovery of religions’ in development discourse. This perception is based on a two-fold forgetfulness of history. On the one hand, the colonial genealogy of development in the ‘civilising mission’ came with a decisive Christian input. On the other hand, the notion of secular modernism conceals the conceptual interconnectedness of religion and secularity in Western debates from the neoclassical secularization theories to the recent ‘return of God’ narratives. Drawing out the contours of a long history of international development, the article argues that scholarship needs to move beyond simple diagnoses of the presence or absence of religion in development discourse, but highlight how the ideology of development has tended to follow narratives about progress and values that are closely connected to discourses about global religion and secularity