QCL spectroscopy system and applications therefor
A spectroscopy system comprising at least two laser modules, each of the laser modules including a laser cavity, a quantum cascade gain chip for amplifying light within the laser cavity, and a tuning element for controlling a wavelength of light generated by the modules. Combining optics are used to combine the light generated by the at least two laser modules into a single beam and a sample detector detects the single beam returning from a sample.
1. A spectroscopy system comprising:
at least two laser modules, each of the laser modules including a laser cavity, a quantum cascade gain chip for amplifying light within the laser cavity, and a tuning element for controlling a wavelength of light generated by the modules;
combining optics for combining the light generated by the at least two laser modules into a single beam;
a reference detector for measuring the wavelength of the single beam; and
a sample detector for detecting an absorption spectra of a sample from the single beam returning from the sample, the system comparing the absorption spectra with a standard to analyze the sample based upon the comparison.
2. The spectroscopy system of claim 1 , further comprising three of the laser modules.
3. The spectroscopy system of claim 1 , wherein the tuning element comprises a grating.
4. The spectroscopy system of claim 1 , wherein the tuning element comprises a Fabry-Perot tunable filter.
5. The spectroscopy system of claim 1 , further comprising projection optics for projecting the single beam to a sample.
6. The spectroscopy system of claim 1 , further comprising a sighting laser and a housing with attached handle, wherein the laser modules are contained within the housing.
7. The spectroscopy system of claim 6 , wherein the system operates on 30 Watts or less.
8. The spectroscopy system of claim 6 , further comprising a soil marking device.
9. The spectroscopy system of claim 1 , wherein the sample detector is separated from the laser modules.
10. The spectroscopy system of claim 1 , further comprising retroreflectors positioned in a room, wherein the single beam is projected to the retroreflectors and then returned to the sample detector.
11. The spectroscopy system of claim 1 , further comprising a gas cell and a portable hand-held housing, wherein the laser modules and the gas cell are contained within the housing, the single beam analyzing air in the gas cell.
12. The spectroscopy system of claim 1 , further comprising a system for puffing air onto shoes and a system for collecting the air, the single beam analyzing the collected air.
13. The spectroscopy system of claim 12 , further comprising a magnetometer.
14. The spectroscopy system of claim 1 , further comprising a portable housing, a fiber optic probe and a fiber optic cable, wherein the fiber optic cable connects the spectroscopy system to the fiber optic probe.
15. The spectroscopy system of claim 14 , wherein the fiber optic probe is a grazing angle probe.
16. The spectroscopy system of claim 14 , wherein the fiber optic probe is an attenuated total reflection probe.
17. The spectroscopy system of claim 16 , wherein the attenuated total reflection probe is triangular prism, trapezoidal prism, or geometric principle.
18. The spectroscopy system of claim 16 , wherein the fiber optic cable is a silver halide cable.
19. A quantum cascade laser microscopy system comprising:
the spectroscopy system claimed in claim 1 ,
a light microscope for projecting the single beam onto the sample, and
an X-Y scanning stage for scanning the sample under the microscope.
20. The quantum cascade laser microscopy system of claim 19 , wherein the detector is a linear detector or a focal plane array.
21. The quantum cascade laser microscopy system of claim 19 , wherein a spectral tuning range includes 6 to 12 micrometers.