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We present a new design of a robust cavity-enhanced frequency comb-based spectrometer operating under the continuous-filtering Vernier principle. The spectrometer is based on a compact femtosecond Er-doped fiber laser, a medium finesse cavity, a diffraction grating, a custom-made moving aperture, and two photodetectors. The new design removes the requirement for high-bandwidth active stabilization present in the previous implementations of the technique, and allows scan rates up to 100 Hz. We demonstrate the spectrometer performance over a wide spectral range by detecting CO2 around 1575 nm (1.7 THz bandwidth and 6 GHz resolution) and CH4 around 1650 nm (2.7 THz bandwidth and 13 GHz resolution). We achieve absorption sensitivity of 5 × 10−9 cm-1 Hz-1/2 at 1575 nm, and 1 × 10−7 cm-1 Hz-1/2 cm-1 at 1650 nm. We discuss the influence of the scanning speed above the adiabatic limit on the amplitude of the absorption signal.

BACKGROUND Noninvasive assessment of metabolic processes that sustain regeneration of human retinal visual pigments (visual cycle) is essential to improve ophthalmic diagnostics and to accelerate development of new treatments to counter retinal diseases. Fluorescent vitamin A derivatives, which are the chemical intermediates of these processes, are highly sensitive to UV light; thus, safe analyses of these processes in humans are currently beyond the reach of even the most modern ocular imaging modalities. METHODS We present a compact fluorescence scanning laser ophthalmoscope (TPEF-SLO) and spectrally resolved images of the human retina based on two-photon excitation (TPE) with near-infrared (IR) light. A custom Er:fiber laser with integrated pulse selection, along with intelligent post-processing of data, enables excitation with low laser power and precise measurement of weak signals. RESULTS We demonstrate spectrally resolved TPE fundus images of human subjects. Comparison of TPE data between human and mouse models of retinal diseases revealed similarity with mouse models that rapidly accumulate bisretinoid condensation products. Thus, visual cycle intermediates and toxic byproducts of this metabolic pathway can be measured and quantified by TPE imaging. CONCLUSION Our work establishes a TPE instrument and measurement method for noninvasive metabolic assessment of the human retina. This approach opens the possibility for monitoring eye diseases in the earliest stages before structural damage to the retina occurs. FUNDING NIH, Research to Prevent Blindness, Foundation for Polish Science, European Regional Development Fund, Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange and Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

We propose a unique way to design multipass cells (MPCs), which combines cost-efficient spherical mirrors with the high-density pattern of astigmatic mirrors. Such functionality was accomplished using at least three standard spherical mirrors appropriately tilted, which breaks the parallelism between them. A genetic algorithm (GA) supported the cell configuration optimization. A 16 m and 23.8 m optical path length (OPL) MPC was developed, practically realized, and proved by a time-of-flight (TOF) experiment to demonstrate the principle. Finally, CO2 detection at 2004nm obtaining 0.4 ppmv limit of detection (LOD) using wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) with 10 s averaging was performed.

Mid-infrared comb-based Fourier transform spectroscopy allows high-resolution measurements of entire molecular absorption bands. However, most previous implementations were limited to wavelengths

Cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) based on broadband light sources offer the high sensitivity of CRDS with the advantages of a multiplex acquisition. Previous works have explored the possibility of analysing the broadband cavity decay using time-resolved FTIR and a pulsed dye laser [1] , and using a virtual image phased array combined with a frequency comb source [2] . Here, we exploit the ability to lock the optical frequency comb to the ring-down cavity to ensure a high throughput for the time-resolved Fourier transform spectrometer.

Using a compact fiber-based difference frequency generation comb and a Fourier transform spectrometer we record spectra of the N2O ν1 band at 1285 cm-1 in the Doppler limit. Fitting Gaussian line shapes to the individual absorption lines yields center frequencies with

We use a Fourier transform spectrometer based on a compact mid-infrared difference frequency generation comb source to perform broadband high-resolution measurements of nitrous oxide, $^{14}$N$_2$$^{16}$O, and retrieve line center frequencies of the $\nu$$_1$ fundamental band and the $\nu$$_1$ + $\nu$$_2$ - $\nu$$_2$ hot band. The spectrum spans 90 cm$^{-1}$ around 1285 cm$^{-1}$ with a sample point spacing of 3 ${\times}$ 10$^{-4}$ cm$^{-1}$ (9 MHz). We report line positions of 72 lines in the $\nu$$_1$ fundamental band between P(37) and R(38), and 112 lines in the $\nu$$_1$ + $\nu$$_2$ - $\nu$$_2$ hot band (split into two components with e/f rotationless parity) between P(34) and R(33), with uncertainties in the range of 90-600 kHz. We derive upper state constants of both bands from a fit of the effective ro-vibrational Hamiltonian to the line center positions. For the fundamental band, we observe excellent agreement in the retrieved line positions and upper state constants with those reported in a recent study by AlSaif et al. using a comb-referenced quantum cascade laser [J Quant Spectrosc Radiat Transf, 2018;211:172-178]. We determine the origin of the hot band with precision one order of magnitude better than previous work based on FTIR measurements by Toth [http://mark4sun.jpl.nasa.gov/n2o.html], which is the source of the HITRAN2016 data for these bands.

We use offset-frequency-free difference frequency generation comb sources and a Fourier transform spectrometer with comb-mode-width limited resolution to measure and analyze spectra of molecular species of atmospheric relevance: CH3I and CH2Br2 around 3000 cm-1, and 14N 162O around 1280 cm-1.

We report the design and characteristics of a simple and compact mode-locked Er-doped fiber laser and its application to broadband cavity-enhanced spectroscopy. The graphene mode-locked polarization maintaining oscillator consumes less than 5 W of power. It is thermally stabilized, enclosed in a 3D printed box, and equipped with three actuators that control the repetition rate: fast and slow fiber stretchers, and metal-coated fiber section. This allows wide tuning of the repetition rate and its stabilization to an external reference source. The applicability of the laser to molecular spectroscopy is demonstrated by detecting CO2 in air using continuous-filtering Vernier spectroscopy with absorption sensitivity of 5.5 × 10−8 cm−1 in 50 ms.

A femtosecond frequency-doubled erbium-doped fiber laser with an adjustable pulse repetition rate is developed and applied in two-photon excited fluorescence microscopy. The all-fiber laser system provides the fundamental pulse at 1560 nm wavelength with 22 fs duration for the second harmonic generation, resulting in 1.35 nJ, 60 fs pulses at 780 nm. The repetition rate is adjusted by a pulse picker unit built-in within the amplifier chain, directly providing transform-limited pulses for any chosen repetition rate between 1 and 12 MHz. We employed the laser source to drive a scanning two-photon excited fluorescence microscope for ex vivo rat skin and other samples’ imaging at various pulse repetition rates. Due to compactness, ease of operation, and suitable pulse characteristics, the laser source can be considered as an attractive alternative for Ti:Sapphire laser in biomedical imaging.

We report a compact, actively stabilized fiber-based mid-infrared frequency comb source covering the 6.5 – 9 μm wavelength range with up to 5 mW of average output power at 125 MHz repetition frequency.

We demonstrate a compact firlly-stabilized fiber-based optical frequency comb based on difference frequency generation finable from 6.5 to 9 pm and its application to Fourier transform spectroscopy of nitrous oxide (N2O).

We present a new robust approach to cavity-enhanced comb spectroscopy based on Vernier filtering, a fixed diffraction grating, custom-made chopper wheel, and a low bandwidth comb-cavity stabilization scheme. We measure a CO2 spectrum with a few GHz resolution and 5 x 10-8 cm-1 sensitivity in 9.4 ms.

Widely-tunable, fully-monolithic, mid-infrared (mid-IR) deference frequency generation source (DFG) is presented. By using a custom designed fiber-pigtailed periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) crystal module the idler beam was generated with an efficiency of 21%/W, yielding 2.6 mW of optical output power. The proposed all-fiber configuration radically simplified the optical frequency conversion setup, making it robust and easily configurable. The usefulness of the constructed source was verified by performing simultaneous wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) laser trace gas detection of methane, near 2999 cm−1, and ethane, near 2997 cm−1, via two independently generated, tunable idler beams.

A compact and robust all-fiber difference frequency generation-based source of broadband mid-infrared radiation is presented. The source emits tunable radiation in the range between 6.5 µm and 9 µm with an average output power up to 5 mW at 125 MHz repetition frequency. The all-in-fiber construction of the source along with active stabilization techniques results in long-term repetition rate stability of 3 Hz per 10 h and a standard deviation of the output power better than 0.8% per 1 h. The applicability of the presented source to laser spectroscopy is demonstrated by measuring the absorption spectrum of nitrous oxide (N2O) around 7.8 µm. The robustness and good long- and short-term stability of the source opens up for applications outside the laboratory.

Numerous practical applications, including health and environmental protection, need compact and high sensitivity gas sensors. This work reports an experimental investigation on a compact multipass cell (MPC) designed and optimized with a genetic algorithm (GA) with long, adjustable optical path length (OPL) using only inexpensive spherical mirrors. A four-mirror based MPC with the GA developed here, offers great design flexibility in comparison to a two-mirror solution. As an example, a stable 24 m OPL was reached within only 80 cc volume. Moreover, by changing the mirror positions various stable OPLs can be achieved in a controlable way.

In recent years, optical frequency combs are gaining attention in many fields of science, e.g. frequency metrology, optical clocks, and high-resolution spectroscopy. Most sophisticated comb sources can be repetition rate stabilized down to 10−16 uncertainty in 1 s averaging time [1] (bounded by the stability of the reference clock). Therefore compact, low-cost and energy efficient fiber-based sources are highly demanded on the market [2]. Accurate thermal stabilization of the fiber laser cavity is the first step to obtain stable repetition frequency, which is critical for optical frequency comb spectroscopy schemes [3]. Moreover, cavity-enhanced spectroscopic techniques like Vernier spectroscopy requires additional detuning of the comb repetition rate from the cavity mode-spacing [4].

Recent decade brought a tremendous progress laser-based gas detection techniques. This progress would not be possible without the relentless devotion of the scientific community in developing state-of-the-art sources capable of targeting strong absorption lines of gases localized in the mid-infrared (mid-IR) wavelength region. Although narrowband, semiconductor-based mid-IR lasers offer non-complex implementation their tuning range is usually limited to several cm−1. Therefore designing a sensor capable of simultaneous monitoring of several gas species, even with absorption profiles clustered nearby, requires incorporating individual expensive quantum cascade laser (QCL) or interband cascade laser (ICL) sources into a single platform. Recent development of reliable mid-IR comb sources, combined with clever methods of signal processing allowed for designing gas sensors capable of simultaneous monitoring of several gas analytes in fractions of a second [1]. Obtaining broadband pulsed radiation in the mid-IR region is usually accomplished by utilizing nonlinear conversion or in recently presented on-chip QCL combs [2]. Although QCL combs offer compactness and efficiency they do not allow straightforward control of the repetition frequency (f rep ) or the carrier-envelope offset frequency (f CEo ), which are critical in some particular cavity-enhanced comb-based sensing techniques, e.g. Vernier spectroscopy [3]. Here we present a fully-fiberized, f CEO -free mid-IR optical frequency comb source capable of covering 6–9 μm wavelength region with tunable f rep . The setup of the source is presented in Fig 1. The heart of the source is a ring-cavity graphene mode-locked laser generating sub-250 fs pulses at 1560 nm and f rep of 100 MHz. The pulses are split using a 50/50 coupler and directed to separate sections of the source. In the blue section the source the pulses are amplified to 80 mW in an all-fiber-based chirped pulse amplifier (CPA) and recompressed in a 8 m-long section of PM1550 fiber to ∼200 fs. In the red section a custom manufactured nonlinear fiber with tailored dispersion (PCF) is utilized to soliton-shift the 1.55 μm pulses into the 1.9–2 μm wavelength region. Subsequently the pulses are amplified in a CPA and recompressed to ∼200 fs. Combined 1.55 and 2 μm pulses are focused on a 3 mm-long orientation patterned gallium phosphide (OP-GaP) crystal to generate mid-IR radiation via differential frequency generation (DFG). Since both pulses originated from the same ML source, the generated mid-IR frequency comb is inherently fceo-free and can be used in laser-based gas sensors requiring stable carrier-envelope offset. The source is built entirely from PM single-mode fibers.

We present a direct comparison between two types of femtosecond 2 µm sources used for seeding of an ultrafast thulium-doped fiber amplifier based on all-normal dispersion supercontinuum and soliton self-frequency shift. Both nonlinear effects were generated in microstructured silica fibers, pumped with low-power femtosecond pulses at 1.56 µm originating from an erbium-doped fiber laser. We performed a full characterization of both nonlinear processes, including their shot-to-shot stability, phase coherence, and relative intensity noise. The results revealed that the solitons show comparable performance to supercontinuum in terms of relative intensity noise and shot-to-shot stability, despite the anomalous dispersion regime. Both sources can be successfully used as seeds for Tm-doped fiber amplifiers as an alternative to Tm-doped oscillators. The results show that the sign of chromatic dispersion of the fiber is not crucial for obtaining a stable, high-quality, and low-noise spectral conversion process when pumped with sub-50 fs laser pulses.

An infrared dual-gas sensor system for the simultaneous detection and monitoring of methane (CH 4 ) and ethane (C 2 H 6 ) at parts-per-billion by volume (ppbv) concentration levels was developed using two room temperature, distributed feedback interband cascade lasers, and two miniature multipass cells with an effective absorption length of 54.6 m. Laser direct absorption spectroscopy was used to detect CH 4 utilizing the 3038.5-cm -1 absorption line, and second-harmonic wavelength modulation spectroscopy method was used to detect C 2 H 6 using the 2996.88-cm -1 absorption line. The 1σ CH 4 detection limit is ~2.7 ppbv with a 1-s averaging time and exhibits a minimum value of ~1.7 ppbv for a 9-s averaging time; the 1σ C 2 H 6 detection limit is ~2.6 ppbv with a 3.4-s averaging time and shows an optimum averaging time of 65 s corresponding to a stability of ~0.36 ppbv. Using the dualgas sensor system, 24 h monitoring of the two atmospheric gases was performed in the Greater Houston area, TX, USA.

In this work a custom direct ray tracing software providing accurate simulations of multiple mirrors setups is demonstrated. Therefore multipass cells and optical cavities with specific properties can be developed and tested before fabrication. A genetic algorithm was implemented to automate the design process. Various parameters such as initial geometry, optical path length and thermal stability can be defined as the boundary conditions for the genetic algorithm based design process.

Effective, high energy ultrafast laser systems for practical applications requires laser sources with low and tunable repetition rate. Intrinsically, a mode-locked fiber laser operates at relatively high and fixed repetition rates (at the order of MHz). Such a high repetition rate limits the achievable pulse energy from an amplifier. To overcome this limitation, we demonstrate a fast, compact, and fully automatic custom made pulse picking system for operation with femtosecond lasers with repetition rates up to 50 MHz. It employs custom electronics with FPGA based signal processing unit and a fast 200 MHz acousto-optic modulator. Proposed solution is flexible and it can be used with various lasers, modulators and detectors. Therefore it is possible to operate e.g. at 1.55 Μm and 2 μm wavelengths. Moreover, the unit can automatically adopted to different repetition rates of seed lasers by adjustable time delay, to be in phase with optical signal. FPGA based signal processing unit can be reconfigured by a microcontroller to deliver several triggering options, digital delay line and frequency meter unit.

A heterodyne interferometer-based signal retrieval in photoacoustic/photothermal gas spectrometer using mid-infrared quantum cascade laser excitation is demonstrated. This new method for all-optical photoacoustic/photothermal signal detection allows for sensitivity enhancement using standard multi-pass cells, commonly used in absorption-based spectrometers. Two types of multi-pass cell are examined: a Herriott type with up to 33 passes and a White type with up to 46 passes. Good agreement between experimental results and numerical analysis is obtained.

In this work, we demonstrate a high-power, fiber-based chirped pulse amplification (CPA) setup utilizing Er- and Er/Yb-doped fibers, operating at 1555 nm central wavelength. The integrated all-fiber pulse-picker allows to reduce the repetition frequency down to the kHz-range, which enables generation of sub-picosecond pulses with energies above 2 μJ and pulse peak power exceeding 1 MW. The system utilizes an Er/Yb co-doped large mode area fiber in the final amplification stage. Thanks to the used mode-field adapters and fiber-based components, the setup is almost fully fiberized, except the bulk grating pulse compressor. In order to provide compactness and simplicity, the compressor was designed using dense 1100 lines per millimeter gratings, that allow to keep the small grating separation.

Isotopie measurements of methane are very important for environment. The level of gas in the atmosphere has significant impact on its radiative forcing, increase is estimated to 0.48 W/m2 since pre-industrial times [1]. Isotopic ratio of carbon in CH4 provides information about the origin of the gas. The recent development of compact interband cascade lasers (ICLs) permits the targeting of strong fundamental rotational-vibrational transitions absorption lines at room temperature conditions with wide wavelength span. Therefore it is possible to build compact, robust, field deployable gas sensors [3].

Nitrogen oxides (NOx), including nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) play important roles in determining the photochemistry of the ambient atmosphere, controlling the production of tropospheric ozone, affecting the concentration levels of the hydroxyl radical, and forming acid precipitation. A sensor system capable of simultaneous measurements of NO and NO2 by using a commercial 76 m astigmatic multi-pass gas cell (MPGC) was developed in order to enable fastresponse NOx detection. A continuous wave (CW), distributed-feedback (DFB) quantum cascade laser (QCL) and a CW external-cavity (EC) QCL were employed for targeting a NO absorption doublet at 1900.075 cm-1 and a NO2 absorption line at 1630.33 cm-1, respectively. Both laser beams were combined and transmitted through the MPGC in an identical optical path and subsequently detected by a single mid-infrared detector. A frequency modulation multiplexing scheme was implemented by modulating the DFB-QCL and EC-QCL at different frequencies and demodulating the detector signal with two Labview software based lock-in amplifiers to extract the corresponding second-harmonic (2f) components. Continuous monitoring of NO and NO2 concentration levels was achieved by locking the laser frequencies to the selected absorption lines utilizing a reference cell filled with high concentrations of NO and NO2. The experimental results indicate minor performance degradation associated with frequency modulation multiplexing and no cross talk between the two multiplexed detection channels. The performance of the reported sensor system was evaluated for real time, sensitive and precise detection of NO and NO2 simultaneously.

We report here an analysis of the performance of a quartz-enhanced photoacoustic (QEPAS) system operating in a pulsed mode by employing a quantum cascade laser (QCL). The QEPAS system is based on a quartz tuning fork (QTF) having fundamental resonance frequency of 4.2 kHz and a first overtone resonance of 25.4 KHz. Water vapor was used as a target gas by selecting its absorption line falling at 1296.5 cm-1 with a line strength of 1.69⋅10-22 cm/molecule. The QEPAS signal was investigated, while varying the QCL duty-cycle from continuous wave operation, down to 5%, which corresponds to a laser power consumption of 0.17 mW and a pulse-width of 4 μs.

A compact mid-infrared (MIR) dual-gas sensor system was demonstrated for simultaneous detection of methane (CH4) and ethane (C2H6) using a single continuous-wave (CW) interband cascade laser (ICL) based on tunable laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) and wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS). Ultracompact custom electronics were developed, including a laser current driver, a temperature controller and a lock-in amplifier. These custom electronics reduce the size and weight of the sensor system as compared with a previous version based on commercial electronics. A multipass gas cell with an effective optical length of 54.6 m was employed to enhance the absorption signal. A 3337 nm ICL was capable of targeting a C2H6 absorption line at 2996.88 cm-1 and a CH4 line at 2999.06 cm-1. Dual-gas detection was realized by scanning both the CH4 and C2H6 absorption lines. Based on an Allan deviation analysis, the 1 σ minimum detection limit (MDL) was 17.4 ppbv for CH4 and 2.4 ppbv for C2H6 with an integration time of 4.3 s. TDLAS based sensor measurements for both indoor and outdoor mixing ratios of CH4 and C2H6 were conducted. The reported single ICL based dual-gas sensor system has the advantages of reduced size and cost without influencing the midinfrared sensor detection sensitivity, selectivity and reliability.

The Laser & Fiber Electronics Group (LFEG) constitutes a team of young, skilled and ambitious researchers, doctoral candidates and students. The Group possesses great experience in applied optoelectronics and laser technology. Currently, it conducts research in several areas,mostly focusing on: ultrashort laser pulse generation using novel materials, development of pulsed fiber laser sources ranging from visible to mid-infrared, development of compact mid-infrared optical frequency combs, laser spectroscopy techniques, laser vibrometry, solid-state lasers, advanced analog and digital electronics, and investigations of light-matter interaction.

A tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS)-based methane sensor, employing a miniature dense-pattern multi-pass gas cell (MPGC) and a continuous wave, room temperature interband cascade laser (ICL), is reported. The optical integration based on an advanced folded optical path design and an efficient ICL control system with appropriate electrical power management results in a methane sensor with a small footprint (32 × 20 × 17 cm 3 ) and low-power consumption (6W). The direct absorption measurement strategy allows absolute quantitative assessments without any calibration. Polynomial and least-squares fit algorithms are employed to remove the baseline of the spectral scan and retrieve CH 4 concentrations, respectively. An Allan-Werle deviation analysis shows that the measurement precision can reach 1.4 ppb for a 60 s averaging time. Continuous measurements lasting seven days were performed to demonstrate the stability and robustness of the reported methane sensor.

A silicon integrated circuit is reported for radiating picosecond pulses with tunable repetition rate, covering frequencies from 30 GHz to 1.03 THz. This source is used in a gas spectroscopy setup to measure the absorption lines of ammonia and water in the terahertz region.

Recent advances of sensor systems, based on mid-infrared interband cascade lasers (ICLs) and quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) for the detection of trace gas species and their applications in environmental monitoring, atmospheric chemistry, life sciences, and the petrochemical industry, will be reported. The development of compact ICL and QCL based trace gas sensors will permit the targeting of strong fundamental rotational-vibrational transitions in the mid-infrared, which are one to two orders of magnitude more intense than transitions involving overtone and combination bands in the near-infrared. One of most robust detection technique is based on the PhotoAcoustic Spectroscopy (PAS). It takes advantage of the thermal expansion of the target gas when it absorbs radiation from the excitation laser. These molecules, once excited by the absorbed optical radiation, subsequently relax to their ground state via non-radiative processes which produce localized heating within the sample and, hence, a localized pressure wave. In the standard PAS, the pressure wave is detected by a microphone. Quartz-enhanced PhotoAcoustic Spectroscopy (QEPAS) is an alternative approach to PAS detection of trace gases, utilizing a quartz tuning fork (QTF) as an ultra-compact resonant acoustic transducer with a high quality factor to detect photoacoustic excitations. . In QEPAS, quartz crystals with a resonant frequency of 32,768 Hz (215) are used due to their low cost, since they are used in timing applications such as watches, clocks and cell phones. Furthermore, a frequency of 32.768 kHz is slow enough for relaxation processes within the target gas of interest not to reduce the acquired QEPAS signal and fast enough that the signal build up time is

In this work, we demonstrate a high-pulse energy, fiber-based chirped pulse amplification (CPA) setup utilizing Er- and Er/Yb-doped fibers, operating at 1555 nm central wavelength. The integrated pulse-picker allows to reduce the repetition frequency down to the kHz-range, which enables generation of sub-picosecond pulses with energies above 2 μJ and pulse peak power exceeding 1 MW. The system utilizes an Er/Yb co-doped large mode area fiber in the final amplification stage. Thanks to the used mode-field adaptors, the setup is almost fully fiberized, except the bulk grating pulse compressor.

A continuous-wave (CW) interband cascade laser (ICL) based mid-infrared sensor system was demonstrated for simultaneous detection of atmospheric methane (CH4) and ethane (C2H6). A 3.337 µm CW ICL with an emitting wavenumber range of 2996.0−3001.5 cm−1 was used to simultaneously target two absorption lines, C2H6 at 2996.88 cm−1 and CH4 at 2999.06 cm−1, respectively. The sensor performance was first evaluated for single-gas detection by only targeting the absorption line of one gas species. Allan deviations of 11.2 parts per billion in volume (ppbv) for CH4 and 1.86 ppbv for C2H6 with an averaging time of 3.4 s were achieved for the detection of these two gases. Dual-gas detection was realized by using a long-term scan signal to target both CH4 and C2H6 lines. The Allan deviations increased slightly to 17.4 ppbv for CH4 and 2.4 ppbv for C2H6 with an averaging time of 4.6 s due to laser temperature and power drift caused by long-term wavelength scanning. Measurements for both indoor and outdoor concentration changes of CH4 and C2H6 were conducted. The reported single ICL based dual-gas sensor system has the advantages of reduced size and cost compared to two separate sensor systems.

A tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy-based methane sensor, employing a dense-pattern multi-pass gas cell and a 3.3 μm, CW, DFB, room temperature interband cascade laser (ICL), is reported. The optical integration based on an advanced folded optical path design and an efficient ICL control system with appropriate electrical power management resulted in a CH4 sensor with a small footprint (32 × 20 × 17 cm3) and low-power consumption (6 W). Polynomial and least-squares fit algorithms are employed to remove the baseline of the spectral scan and retrieve CH4 concentrations, respectively. An Allan-Werle deviation analysis shows that the measurement precision can reach 1.4 ppb for a 60 s averaging time. Continuous measurements covering a seven-day period were performed to demonstrate the stability and robustness of the reported CH4 sensor system.

Development of trace gas sensors based on mid-infrared interband cascade lasers and quantum cascade lasers as well as their applications will be reported. The sensor technology will use both laser absorption and quartz enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy.

Laser spectroscopy based trace gas detection systems are implemented in various applications: industry, medicine, homeland security, environmental monitoring and several more [1]. More sophisticated applications require simultaneous monitoring of several gas species, that possess strong absorption lines in the mid-IR wavelength region. This usually requires using several independent laser sources that will enable targeting the desired transitions of the analytes — for example relatively expensive quantum cascade lasers [2]. We propose a novel, multi-wavelength, fully-monolithic, fiber-based difference frequency generation mid-IR source, incorporating our patented dual-wavelength double-clad (DC) configuration, which enables amplification of ∼1.55 μm radiation and simultaneous generation of 1.064 μm wavelength [3-5]. Schematic is shown in Fig. 1.

Sensitive in situ detection of multiple atmospheric species at fast acquisition rates is needed for environmental monitoring. For field applications, robust and compact design is also demanded. Continuous-filtering Vernier spectroscopy (CF-VS) [1] is a cavity-enhanced frequency-comb-based technique that provides broad spectral bandwidth and high absorption sensitivity in short acquisition times. In CF-VS, groups of comb lines (Vernier orders, VOs) are transmitted through the cavity when its free spectral range (FSR) is slightly detuned from the comb repetition rate ( f rep ) and continuously swept across the broadband laser spectrum (by scanning the FSR). In previous implementations [1] - [3] , a diffraction grating rotating on a galvo scanner was used to image one VO on the detector during the spectral scan, limiting the acquisition rates to 20 Hz. Moreover, high-bandwidth stabilization was needed to synchronize the scans of the galvo and the cavity FSR. Here we present an improved design of CF-VS based on a compact Er:fiber laser and a moving aperture that follows and selects one VO. This removes the requirement of tight active stabilization and enables faster acquisition rates.