The development of an interband cascade laser (ICL) based spectroscopic trace-gas sensor for the simultaneous detection of two atmospheric trace gases is reported. The sensor performance was evaluated using two ICLs capable of targeting formaldehyde \left({\text{H 2}}_{}\text{CO}\right) and ethane \left({\text{C 2}}_{}{\text{H 6}}_{}\right) . Minimum detection limits of 3.5\text{\hspace{0.17em} ppbV} for {\text{H 2}}_{}\text{CO} and 150\text{\hspace{0.17em} pptV} for {\text{C 2}}_{}{\text{H 6}}_{} was demonstrated with a \text{1 \hspace{0.17em} s} integration time. The sensor was deployed for field measurements of {\text{H 2}}_{}\text{CO} , and laboratory quantification of both formaldehyde and ethane are reported. A cross comparison of the atmospheric concentration data for {\text{H 2}}_{}\text{CO} with data collected by a collocated commercial {\text{H 2}}_{}\text{CO} sensor employing Hantzsch reaction based fluorometric detection was performed. These results show excellent agreement between these two different approaches for trace-gas quantification. In addition, laboratory experiments for dual gas quantification show accurate, fast response with no crosstalk between the two gas channels.

© 2007 Optical Society of America

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