Intracavity absorption spectroscopy of HCl isotopes, H2O, CH4, C2H4, and C2H6 in the 3.1-3.4 µm spectral range using a Cr:CdSe laser.

We demonstrate the first application of a Cr:CdSe laser for highly-sensitive multicomponent intracavity absorption spectroscopy around λ = 3.1-3.4 µm. A detection scheme based on an integrated recording of multiple (∼70) individual Cr:CdSe laser pulses after a single pump-pulse excitation is reported. The sensitivity of our system corresponds to an effective absorption path length of Leff ≈ 850 m. Exemplary measurements of atmospheric H2O and CH4, and additionally introduced gas-phase HCl, C2H4, or C2H6 are presented. The achieved noise-equivalent detection limits are in the ppb range. Possibilities for further sensitivity enhancement by up to a factor of 104 are discussed.