Aircraft (ER-2) laser infrared absorption spectrometer (ALIAS) for in-situ stratospheric measurements of HCI, N(2)O, CH(4), NO(2), and HNO(3).

The Aircraft Laser Infrared Absorption Spectrometer (ALIAS) instrument is a high-resolution (0.0003 cm-(1)) scanning tunable-diode-laser spectrometer designed, tested, and flown more than 30 times on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's high-altitude ER-2 aircraft in the Airborne Arctic Stratospheric Expedition of 1991-1992. Using long-path infrared laser absorption spectroscopy to detect optical absorptions as small as 10-(5), ALIAS provides fast, continuous in-situ measurements of key atmospheric gases, with gas detection sensitivities of tens of parts in 10(12). With four lasers and detectors in a single liquid-nitrogen Dewar, simultaneous measurements of HCI, NO(2), HNO(3), CH(4), and N(2)O are made using laser sources at 3.4-8 µm, injected into a 1-m-long, 80-pass Herriott cell.