Detection of chemical clouds using widely tunable quantum cascade lasers

Widely tunable quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) spanning the long-wave infrared (LWIR) atmospheric transmission window and an HgCdTe detector were incorporated into a transceiver having a 50-mm-diameter transmit/receive aperture. The transceiver was used in combination with a 50-mm-diameter hollow retro-reflector for the open-path detection of chemical clouds. Two rapidly tunable external-cavity QCLs spanned the wavelength range of 7.5 to 12.8 m. Open-path transmission measurements were made over round-trip path-lengths of up to 562 meters. Freon-132a and other gases were sprayed into the beam path and the concentration-length (CL) product was measured as a function of time. The system exhibited a noise-equivalent concentration (NEC) of 3 ppb for Freon-132a given a round-trip path of 310 meters. Algorithms based on correlation methods were used to both identify the gases and determine their CLproducts as a function of time.