Middle infrared active coherent laser spectrometer for standoff detection of chemicals

Using a quantum cascade laser emitting at 7.85 μm, a middle infrared active coherent laser spectrometer has been developed for the standoff detection of vapor phase chemicals. The first prototype has been tested using diffuse target backscattering at ranges up to ~30 m. Exploiting the continuous fre...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Optics letters 2013-10, Vol.38 (19), p.3708-3711
Main Authors: Macleod, Neil A, Rose, Rebecca, Weidmann, Damien
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Absorption cross sections
Coherence
Infrared
Laser spectrometers
Nitrous oxides
Tuning
Vapor phases
Water vapor
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Summary:Using a quantum cascade laser emitting at 7.85 μm, a middle infrared active coherent laser spectrometer has been developed for the standoff detection of vapor phase chemicals. The first prototype has been tested using diffuse target backscattering at ranges up to ~30 m. Exploiting the continuous frequency tuning of the laser source, spectra of water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide, and hydrogen peroxide were recorded. A forward model of the instrument was used to perform spectral unmixing and retrieve line-of-sight integrated concentrations and their one-sigma uncertainties. Performance was found to be limited by speckle noise originating from topographic targets. For absorbers with large absorption cross sections such as nitrous oxide (>10(-19) cm(2)·molecule(-1)), normalized detection sensitivities range between 14 and 0.3 ppm·m·Hz(-1/2), depending on the efficiency of the speckle reduction scheme implemented.
ISSN:0146-9592
1539-4794
DOI:10.1364/OL.38.003708