Disordered, strongly scattering porous materials as miniature multipass gas cells

We investigate the interaction of light and gas in strongly scattering nano- and macroporous media. Manufacturing and structural characterization of ZrO(2), Al(2)O(3) and TiO(2) ceramics with different pore sizes, measurements of optical properties using photon time-of-flight spectroscopy, and high-resolution laser spectroscopy of O(2) at 760 nm are reported. We show that extreme light scattering can be utilized to realize miniature spectroscopic gas cells. Path length enhancement factors up to 750 are reached (5.4 m path through gas for light transmitted through a 7 mm ZrO(2) with 49% porosity and 115 nm pores).