Spectroscopic tests of a 2.3 microm tunable diode laser

A 2.3 microm near-room temperature tunable diode laser was tested for applications in high-resolution laboratory spectroscopy. It was mounted using a simple adaptor in a spectrometer usually used with lead-salt diode lasers, and was found to be electrically and optically compatible with the system. Good output power (several milliwatts) was observed, and a tuning range of 4460-4150 cm(-1) was achieved for laser temperatures of 210-310 K. Some spectra of N(2)O and NH(3) were recorded in the 4300-4430 cm(-1) region. However, the laser was not generally useful due to noisy and unstable output and high sensitivity to optical feedback.