Quantitative gas sensing by backscatter-absorption measurements of a pseudorandom code modulated lambda ~ 8-microm quantum cascade laser

We have demonstrated quantitative chemical vapor detection with a multimode quantum cascade (QC) laser. Experiments incorporated pseudorandom code (PRC) modulation of the laser intensity to permit sensitive absorption measurements of isopropanol vapor at 8.0micro . The demonstration shows the practicality of one technical approach for implementing low-peak-power QC lasers in the transmitter portion of a differential absorption lidar (DIAL) system. With a 31-chip, 300-ns/chip PRC sequence, the measured isopropanol detection limit was 12 parts in 10(6) by volume times meters (~3x10(-3) absorption) for a simple backscatter-absorption measurement configuration.