High-resolution cavity-tuned ringdown spectrometer using a narrow-bandwidth pulsed laser source

A novel method of cavity ringdown spectroscopy is proposed to achieve high spectral resolution with tunable narrow bandwidth pulsed lasers. We demonstrate a cavity-tuned ringdown configuration in which only a single cavity mode is kept excited near the carrier frequency of a narrow bandwidth pulse laser. This is done simply by making a cavity resonance actively track the frequency reference served by the cw injection seed of the pulsed laser source. We present the servo mechanism used in the cavity resonance tracking, reliable procedures for transverse mode matching, and the evidence of single longitudinal mode excitation. The spectrometer performance is tested to record weak molecular overtone features of acetylene around the wavelength of 570 nm, showing cavity tracking stability within 5-MHz uncertainty which overcomes the bandwidth limit of pulsed laser sources itself. PACS 42.62.Fi; 42.60.Da; 33.20.Kf