Abstract:
New designs for gas cells are presented that incorporate transmissive or
reflective optical diffusers. These components offer simple alignment and can
disrupt the formation of optical etalons. We analyse the performance-limiting
effects in these cells of random laser speckle (both objective and subjective
speckle), interferometric speckle and self-mixing interference, and show how
designs can be optimised. A simple, single pass transmissive gas cell has been
studied using wavelength modulation spectroscopy to measure methane at 1651 nm.
We have demonstrated a short-term noise equivalent absorbance (NEA, 1 sigma) of
2x10(-5), but longer term drift of up to 3x10(-4) over 22 hours.
