Self-referencing cavity enhanced spectroscopy (SRCES) systems and methods

1. A spectroscopy apparatus comprising:

a resonant optical cavity configured to hold a sample;

an optical detector configured to detect optical signals emitted from the optical cavity and generate electrical signals from the optical signals, the optical signals defining a plurality of intensity values characterizing a response of the sample to light in the optical cavity as a frequency of the light is scanned over a range of frequencies spanning a plurality of longitudinal mode resonance spectral peaks; and

a processor electrically connected to the optical detector and configured to determine, from the electrical signals, a sample absorption coefficient by fitting at least two intensity values characterizing a longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak to a model of the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak, wherein the at least two intensity values comprise a maximum intensity and a minimum intensity characterizing the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak, and wherein the processor is configured to perform at least one of:

i. determining the maximum intensity characterizing the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak by averaging a maximum intensity of the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak and a maximum intensity of an immediately neighboring longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak, and

ii. determining the minimum intensity characterizing the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak by averaging a minimum intensity of the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak and a minimum intensity of an immediately neighboring longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to determine the sample absorption coefficient according to a ratio of the maximum intensity to the minimum intensity.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the processor is configured to determine the sample absorption coefficient according to a logarithm of a function of the ratio.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein a ring-down time of the optical cavity is less than 60 ns.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to determine the maximum intensity characterizing the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak by averaging the maximum intensity of the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak and the maximum intensity of the immediately neighboring longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to determine the minimum intensity characterizing the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak by averaging the minimum intensity of the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak with the minimum intensity of the immediately neighboring longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to perform at least one function selected from:

determining the maximum intensity characterizing the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak by fitting a curve over a plurality of points of the longitudinal mode resonance peak; and

determining the minimum intensity characterizing the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak by fitting a curve to a plurality of points of the longitudinal mode resonance peak.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the processor is configured to determine the maximum intensity characterizing the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak by curve fitting.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the processor is configured to determine the minimum intensity characterizing the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak by curve fitting.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to determine the sample absorption coefficient by fitting at least three intensity values characterizing the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak to the model of the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to determine the sample absorption coefficient by fitting a curve to a shape of the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the ring-down time of the optical cavity is greater than or equal to 10 ns.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein fitting the curve is performed over a frequency range encompassing two cavity free spectral ranges.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the processor is configured to generate an absorption spectrum according to successive curve fittings of longitudinal mode resonance spectral peaks.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further connected to a monochromatic light source optically coupled to the resonant optical cavity, the processor being configured to control the monochromatic light source to scan the frequency of light emitted by the light source over the range of frequencies spanning the plurality of longitudinal mode resonance spectral peaks of the resonant optical cavity.

16. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to assemble a plurality of absorption coefficients to generate an absorption spectrum for the sample.

17. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the cavity is a confocal cavity.

18. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a spatial optical filter positioned in an optical path between the cavity and the optical detector, and configured to filter out higher-order transverse modes from the light incident on the optical detector.

19. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a second optical detector positioned outside the cavity to detect light emitted by a light source and reflected by an input mirror of the cavity, the light source being external to the cavity, wherein the processor is configured to determine the sample absorption coefficient according to an optical power indicator signal received from the second optical detector.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by a hardware processor, cause the processor to:

receive electrical signals generated from optical signals emitted from a resonant optical cavity configured to hold a sample, the optical signals characterizing a response of the sample to light in the optical cavity as a frequency of the light is scanned over a range of frequencies spanning a plurality of longitudinal mode resonance spectral peaks; and

determine, from the electrical signals, a sample absorption coefficient by fitting at least two intensity values characterizing a longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak to a model of the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak, wherein the at least two intensity values comprise a maximum intensity and a minimum intensity characterizing the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak, and wherein the instructions further cause the processor to perform at least one of:

i. determining the maximum intensity characterizing the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak by averaging a maximum intensity of the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak and a maximum intensity of an immediately neighboring longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak, and

ii. determining the minimum intensity characterizing the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak by averaging a minimum intensity of the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak and a minimum intensity of an immediately neighboring longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 20 , wherein the instructions cause the processor to determine the sample absorption coefficient according to a ratio of the maximum intensity to the minimum intensity.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 21 , wherein the instructions cause the processor to determine the sample absorption coefficient according to a logarithm of a function of the ratio.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 21 , wherein a ring-down time of the optical cavity is less than 60 ns.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 20 , wherein the instructions cause the processor to determine the maximum intensity characterizing the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak by averaging the maximum intensity of the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak and the maximum intensity of the immediately neighboring longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 20 , wherein the instructions cause the processor to determine the minimum intensity characterizing the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak by averaging the minimum intensity of the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak with the minimum intensity of the immediately neighboring longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 20 , wherein the instructions cause the processor to perform at least one function selected from:

determining the maximum intensity characterizing the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak by fitting a curve over a plurality of points of the longitudinal mode resonance peak; and

determining the minimum intensity characterizing the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak by fitting a curve to a plurality of points of the longitudinal mode resonance peak.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 26 , wherein the instructions cause the processor to determine the maximum intensity characterizing the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak by curve fitting.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 26 , wherein the instructions cause the processor to determine the minimum intensity characterizing the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak by curve fitting.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 20 , wherein the instructions cause the processor to determine the sample absorption coefficient by fitting at least three intensity values characterizing the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak to the model of the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 20 , wherein the instructions cause the processor to determine the sample absorption coefficient by fitting a curve to a shape of the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 30 , wherein the ring-down time of the optical cavity is greater than or equal to 10 ns.

32. The computer-readable medium of claim 30 , wherein fitting the curve is performed over a frequency range encompassing two cavity free spectral ranges.

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 30 , wherein the instructions cause the processor to generate an absorption spectrum according to successive curve fittings of longitudinal mode resonance spectral peaks.

34. The computer-readable medium of claim 20 , wherein the instructions cause the processor to control a monochromatic light source to scan the frequency of light emitted by the light source over the range of frequencies spanning the plurality of longitudinal mode resonance spectral peaks of the resonant optical cavity, wherein the monochromatic light source is optically coupled to the resonant optical cavity.

35. The computer-readable medium of claim 20 , wherein the instructions cause the processor to assemble a plurality of absorption coefficients to generate an absorption spectrum for the sample.

36. The computer-readable medium of claim 20 , wherein the cavity is a confocal cavity.

37. The computer-readable medium of claim 20 , wherein the instructions cause the processor to determine the sample absorption coefficient according to an optical power indicator signal received from a second optical detector positioned outside the cavity to detect light emitted by a light source and reflected by an input mirror of the cavity, the light source being external to the cavity.

38. A computer system comprising a hardware processor and associated memory configured to:

receive electrical signals generated from optical signals emitted from a resonant optical cavity configured to hold a sample, the optical signals characterizing a response of the sample to light in the optical cavity as a frequency of the light is scanned over a range of frequencies spanning a plurality of longitudinal mode resonance spectral peaks; and

determine, from the electrical signals, a sample absorption coefficient by fitting at least two intensity values characterizing a longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak to a model of the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak, wherein the at least two intensity values comprise a maximum intensity and a minimum intensity characterizing the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak, and wherein the processor is configured to perform at least one of:

i. determining the maximum intensity characterizing the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak by averaging a maximum intensity of the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak and a maximum intensity of an immediately neighboring longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak, and

ii. determining the minimum intensity characterizing the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak by averaging a minimum intensity of the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak and a minimum intensity of an immediately neighboring longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak.

39. A method comprising:

receiving electrical signals generated from optical signals emitted from a resonant optical cavity configured to hold a sample, the optical signals characterizing a response of the sample to light in the optical cavity as a frequency of the light is scanned over a range of frequencies spanning a plurality of longitudinal mode resonance spectral peaks; and

determining, from the electrical signals and using a hardware processor, a sample absorption coefficient by fitting at least two intensity values characterizing a longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak to a model of the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak, wherein the at least two intensity values comprise a maximum intensity and a minimum intensity characterizing the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak, and wherein the processor is configured to perform at least one of:

i. determining the maximum intensity characterizing the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak by averaging a maximum intensity of the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak and a maximum intensity of an immediately neighboring longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak, and

ii. determining the minimum intensity characterizing the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak by averaging a minimum intensity of the longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak and a minimum intensity of an immediately neighboring longitudinal mode resonance spectral peak.