A Quantum Cascade Laser-Based Multi-Gas Sensor for Ambient Air Monitoring.

A quantum cascade laser-based sensor for ambient air monitoring is presented and five gases, affecting the air quality, can be quantified. The light sources are selected to measure CO, NO, NO, NO and SO. The footprint of the measurement setup is designed to fit in two standard 19" rack (48 cm × 65 cm) with 4 height units (18 cm) whereas one is holding the optical components and the other one contains the electronics and data processing unit.

Implementation and characterization of a thermal infrared laser heterodyne radiometer based on a wavelength modulated local oscillator laser.

This article presents the first implementation and the experimental characterization of a thermal infrared wavelength modulation laser heterodyne radiometer (WM-LHR) based on an external cavity quantum cascade laser. This novel WM-LHR system has demonstrated calibration-free operation, a superior signal to noise ratio and, more importantly, has opened the door for cost-efficient wide spectral range laser heterodyne radiometry in the near future.

On-line monitoring of methanol and methyl formate in the exhaust gas of an industrial formaldehyde production plant by a mid-IR gas sensor based on tunable Fabry-Pérot filter technology.

On-line monitoring of key chemicals in an industrial production plant ensures economic operation, guarantees the desired product quality, and provides additional in-depth information on the involved chemical processes. For that purpose, rapid, rugged, and flexible measurement systems at reasonable cost are required. Here, we present the application of a flexible mid-IR filtometer for industrial gas sensing.

Application of a ring cavity surface emitting quantum cascade laser (RCSE-QCL) on the measurement of HS in a CH matrix for process analytics.

The present work reports on the first application of a ring-cavity-surface-emitting quantum-cascade laser (RCSE-QCL) for sensitive gas measurements. RCSE-QCLs are promising candidates for optical gas-sensing due to their single-mode, mode-hop-free and narrow-band emission characteristics along with their broad spectral coverage. The time resolved down-chirp of the RCSE-QCL in the 1227-1236 cm (8.

Time-resolved spectral characterization of ring cavity surface emitting and ridge-type distributed feedback quantum cascade lasers by step-scan FT-IR spectroscopy.

We present the time-resolved comparison of pulsed 2nd order ring cavity surface emitting (RCSE) quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) and pulsed 1st order ridge-type distributed feedback (DFB) QCLs using a step-scan Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer. Laser devices were part of QCL arrays and fabricated from the same laser material. Required grating periods were adjusted to account for the grating order.

Highly reproducible SERS detection in sequential injection analysis: real time preparation and application of photo-reduced silver substrate in a moving flow-cell.

This paper reports an improved way for performing highly reproducible surface enhanced Raman scattering of different analytes using an automated flow system. The method uses a confocal Raman microscope to prepare SERS active silver spots on the window of a flow cell by photo-reduction of silver nitrate in the presence of citrate. Placement of the flow cell on an automated x and y stages of the Raman microscope allows to prepare a fresh spot for every new measurement.

Reagent-free monitoring of multiple clinically relevant parameters in human blood plasma using a mid-infrared quantum cascade laser based sensor system.

We present a semi-automated point-of-care (POC) sensor approach for the simultaneous and reagent-free determination of clinically relevant parameters in blood plasma. The portable sensor system performed direct mid-infrared (MIR) transmission measurements of blood plasma samples using a broadly tunable external-cavity quantum cascade laser source with high spectral power density. This enabled the use of a flow cell with a long path length (165 μm) which resulted in high signal-to-noise ratios and a rugged system, insensitive to clogging.

Tunable external cavity quantum cascade laser for the simultaneous determination of glucose and lactate in aqueous phase.

A room temperature operated pulsed external-cavity (EC) quantum cascade laser (QCL) was used for mid-infrared (mid-IR) transmission measurements of glucose and lactate in aqueous solution. The high spectral power density of the EC-QCL (ranging from 1-350 mW) over a wide tuning range (1030-1230 cm(-1)) allowed transmission measurements through optical paths of 130 μm and more. This is a significant improvement in terms of robustness of the measurement setup, especially when samples containing cells or other particles, as is the case for biofluids, are to be analyzed.