PCF-Based Cavity Enhanced Spectroscopic Sensors for Simultaneous Multicomponent Trace Gas Analysis

A multiwavelength, multicomponent CRDS gas sensor operating on the basis of a compact photonic crystal fibre supercontinuum light source has been constructed. It features a simple design encompassing one radiation source, one cavity and one detection unit (a spectrograph with a fitted ICCD camera) that are common for all wavelengths. Multicomponent detection capability of the device is demonstrated by simultaneous measurements of the absorption spectra of molecular oxygen (spin-forbidden b-X branch) and water vapor (polyads 4v, 4v + δ) in ambient atmospheric air. Issues related to multimodal cavity excitation, as well as to obtaining the best signal-to-noise ratio are discussed together with methods for their practical resolution based on operating the cavity in a “quasi continuum” mode and setting long camera gate widths, respectively. A comprehensive review of multiwavelength CRDS techniques is also given

Long-Range Transport of Water Channelized through the Southern Subtropical Jet

In this study, an air mass (containing a cirrus cloud) was detected by light detection and ranging (lidar) above São Paulo (Brazil) in June 2007 and tracked around the globe, thanks to Lagrangian calculations as well as ground-based and satellite observations. Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) data were also used to provide locations of occurrence of cirrus around the globe and extract their respective macro physical parameters (altitude and temperature). An analysis of the air mass history based on Lagrangian trajectories reveals that water coming from the Equator is channelized through the southern subtropical jet for weeks. In this case, the back-trajectories showed that the cirrus cloud detected at São Paulo was a mixture of air masses from two different locations: (1) the active convective area located around the Equator, with transport into the upper troposphere that promotes cirrus cloud formation; and (2) the South Pacific Ocean, with transport that follows the subtropical jet stream (STJ). Air masses coming from equatorial convective regions are trapped by the jet, which contributes to maintaining the lifetime of the cirrus cloud for a few days. The cloud disappears near the African continent, due to a southern excursion and warmer temperatures, then reappears and is detected again by the lidar system in São Paulo after 12 days. The observed cloud is located at a similar altitude, revealing that sedimentation is small or compensated by radiative uplift

Laser-induced water condensation in air

Triggering rain on demand is an old dream of mankind, with a huge potential socio-economical benefit. To date, efforts have mainly focused on cloud-seeding using silver salt particles. We demonstrate that self-guided ionized filaments generated by ultrashort laser pulses are also able to induce water-cloud condensation in the free, sub-saturated atmosphere. Potential contributing mechanisms include photo-oxidative chemistry and electrostatic effects. As well as revealing the potential for influencing or triggering water precipitation, laser-induced water condensation provides a new tool for the remote sensing of nucleation processes in clouds

1-J white-light continuum from 100-TW laser pulses

We experimentally measured the supercontinuum generation using 3-J, 30-fs laser pulses and measured white-light generation at the level of 1 J. Such high energy is allowed by a strong contribution to the continuum by the photon bath, as compared to the self-guided filaments. This contribution due to the recently observed congestion of the filament number density in the beam profile at very high intensity also results in a wider broadening for positively chirped pulses rather than for negatively chirped ones, similar to broadening in hollow-core fibers