Utilizing Quantum Cascade Lasers for Gas Sensing in the Mid-Infrared

Using Wavelength Electronics' precision temperature controller and low noise Quantum Cascade Laser (QCL) driver, researchers at Princeton University developed a sensor that was designed around a QCL to simultaneously measure nitrous oxide (N2O) and carbon monoxide (CO). The sensor is compact and field-deployable, requiring much less power and having a much smaller footprint and mass than previous sensors, while increasing the accuracy of concentration measurements. The most accurate measurements were 0.15 parts-per-billion-by-volume (ppbv) for N2O and 0.36 ppbv for CO. These accuracies well exceed the requirement of 1 ppbv to be considered "high stability" in the field of atmospheric sensing.