High-sensitivity intracavity laser absorption spectroscopy with vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting semiconductor lasers.

We report the demonstration of high-sensitivity intracavity laser absorption spectroscopy with multiple-quantum-well vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting semiconductor lasers (VECSEL's). A detection limit of 3 x 10(-10) cm (-1) has been achieved. The spectrotemporal dynamics of a VECSEL in the 1030-nm wavelength region has been studied. The laser was operating cw at room temperature, with a baseline signal-to-noise ratio as high as 400. The laser was optically pumped with a threshold as low as 80 mW and was broadly tunable over a spectral range of approximately 75 nm .