Chemical sensors based on quantum cascade lasers

There is an increasing need in many chemical sensing applications ranging from industrial process control to environmental science and medical diagnostics for fast, sensitive, and selective gas detection based on laser spectroscopy. The recent availability of novel pulsed and CW quantum cascade distributed feedback (QC-DFB) lasers as mid-infrared spectroscopic sources address this need. A number of spectroscopic techniques have been demonstrated worldwide by several groups. For example, the authors have employed QC-DFB lasers for the monitoring and quantification of several trace gases and isotopic species in ambient air at ppmv and ppbv levels by means of direct absorption, wavelength modulation, and cavity enhanced and cavity ringdown spectroscopy.