title: Pulsed, single-mode cavity ringdown spectroscopy.
abstract: We discuss the use of single-mode cavity ringdown spectroscopy with pulsed lasers for quantitative gas density and line strength measurements. The single-mode approach to cavity ringdown spectroscopy gives single exponential decay signals without mode beating, which allows measurements with uncertainties near the shot-noise limit. The technique is demonstrated with a 10-cm-long ringdown cavity and a pulsed, frequency-stabilized optical parametric oscillator as the light source. A noise-equivalent absorption coefficient of 5 x 10(-10) cm(-1) Hz(-1/2) is demonstrated, and the relative standard deviation in the ringdown time (sigma(tau)/tau) extracted from a fit to an individual ringdown curve is found to be the same as that for an ensemble of hundreds of independent measurements. Repeated measurement of a line strength is shown to have a standard deviation <0.3%. The effects of normally distributed noise on quantities measured using cavity ringdown spectroscopy are discussed, formulas for the relative standard deviation in the ringdown time are given in the shot- and technical-noise limits, and the noise-equivalent absorption coefficient in these limits are compared for pulsed and continuous-wave light sources.
authors.affiliation: Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899-8364, USA.
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: van Zee
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Hodges
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Looney