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Chirped laser dispersion spectroscopy with harmonic detection of molecular spectra

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Abstract

Chirped laser dispersion spectroscopy (CLaDS) has been introduced recently as a technique that performs molecular detection based on measurement of optical dispersion. In this paper, a new detection scheme based on chirp modulation (CM) and subsequent phase-sensitive detection is described. CM-CLaDS inherits the full advantages of conventional CLaDS and additionally overcomes some of its limitations. A prototype CM-CLaDS instrument has been developed and characterized in laboratory conditions. The system is based on a distributed feedback quantum cascade laser which operates around 4.52 µm and can probe the most intense nitrous oxide (N2O) ro-vibrational transitions. Preliminary performance tests are presented and provide a path/bandwidth normalized minimum N2O detection limit below 100 ppbv m/Hz1/2.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the financial support by the NSF CAREER award CMMI-0954897 and partial support by the MIRTHE NSF Engineering Research Center. Dr. Chung-En Zah from Corning Inc. is acknowledged for providing a laser for this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Electrical Engineering Department, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA

    M. Nikodem & G. Wysocki

  2. Space Science and Technology Department, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot, OX11 0QX, UK

    D. Weidmann

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  1. M. Nikodem
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  2. D. Weidmann
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  3. G. Wysocki
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Correspondence to G. Wysocki.

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Nikodem, M., Weidmann, D. & Wysocki, G. Chirped laser dispersion spectroscopy with harmonic detection of molecular spectra. Appl. Phys. B 109, 477–483 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-012-5060-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-012-5060-3

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