Detection of Nitric Oxide in Human Exhalation Using Laser Magnetic Resonance

We have been heavily involved in the development of spectroscopic methods for the investigation of the IR spectra of gaseous free radicals and open shell molecular ions. Based on our expertise in molecular gas lasers, we have explored Laser Magnetic Resonance (LMR) particularly in combination with carbon monoxide (CO) lasers. LMR was first developed by K.M.Evenson and his co workers in 1968 in combination with FIR lasers for pure rotation spectroscopy of free radicals (Evenson 1968). Since these species are short lived and cannot be generated in high concentrations in general, the necessity of a very sensitive detection scheme is obvious.