| Abstract: | A room-temperature resonant-cavity light source emitting at 3.327 microm is presented. It combines a CdHgTe light-emitting layer, grown by molecular beam epitaxy, and two evaporated YF(3)-ZnS Bragg mirrors. The emitter is optically pumped by a commercial low-power GaAs laser diode. Compared with an unprocessed sample, this microcavity device shows a drastic (10-fold) linewidth reduction, a 3.3-fold intensity increase at 3.327 microm , and a 2.4-fold angular-spread decrease. The emitted optical power is 15 microW , and the device is used as a light source in a basic gas-detection setup. Measurements of a butane-propane mixture in the 1 to 5x 10(-3) bar range with a 5-cm-long single-path gas cell are demonstrated. |
