| abstract |
An optical nose (optical molecular detection) system (10) with a broadly tunable, narrow linewidth mid-IR laser source with a modular structure. The laser source comprises the following: a) A tunable seed laser unit (24) including a single-longitudinal mode and a widely tunable TM2+:II-VI master oscillator (12) with a TM2+:II-VI power amplifier (14). The symbol TM2+ represents a transition metal ion selected from the group consisting of Cr2+, Fe2+, Co2+ and Ni2+ and II-VI represents ZnS, ZnSe, CdS, CdSe, ZnTe or CdTe and their mixtures. b) A pulsed pump laser unit including a single-frequency, high energy, Q-switch laser (16). c) An Optical Parametric Generator-Optical Parametric Amplifier (OPG-OPA) (20), pumped by the pulsed pump laser unit (16) and seeded by the seed tunable laser unit (24) having a mid-IR output that is selectively variable over about 2 to 20ìm. A method of analysing a gaseous sample using such a system is also disclosed. |