Sensors for most of these missions will require extreme chemical sensitivity and selectivity because the signature chemicals of importance are expected to be present in low concentrations or have low vapor pressures, and the ambient air is likely to contain pollutants or other chemicals with interfering spectra. Cavity-enhanced chemical sensors (CES) that draw air samples into optical cavities for laser-based interrogation of their chemical content promise real-time, in-situ chemical detection with extreme sensitivity to specified target molecules and superb immunity to spectral interference and other sources of noise.PNNL is developing CES based on quantum cascade (QC) lasers that operate in the midwave infrared (MWIR -3 to 5 microns) and long-wave infrared (LWIR -8 to 14 microns), and CES based on telecommunications lasers operating in the short-wave infrared (SWIR -1 to 2 microns). All three spectral regions are promising because smaller molecular absorption cross sections in the SWIR are offset by the superior performance, maturity, and robustness of SWIR lasers, detectors, and other components, while the reverse is true for the MWIR and LWIR bands. PNNL's research activities include identification of signature chemicals and quantification of their spectroscopy, exploration of novel sensing techniques, and experimental sensor system construction and testing. In FY02, experimental QC laser systems developed with DARPA funding were used to explore continuous-wave (cw) CES in various forms culminating in the NICE-OHMS technique [1-3] discussed below. In FY02 PNNL also built an SWIR sensor to validate utility of the SWIR spectral region for chemical sensing, and explore the science and engineering of CES in field environments. The remainder of this report is devoted to PNNL's LWIR CES research.iv During FY02 PNNL explored the performance and limitations of several detection techniques in the LWIR including direct cavity-enhanced absorption, cavity-dithered phase-sensitive detection and resonant sideband cavity-enhanced detection. This latter technique is also known as NICE-OHMS, which stands for Noise-Immune CavityEnhanced Optical Heterodyne Molecular Spectroscopy. This technique, pioneered in the near infrared (NIR) by Dr J. Hall and coworkers at the University of Colorado, is one of the most sensitive spectroscopic techniques currently known. In this report, the first demonstration of this technique in the LWIR is presented. The noise-equivalent absorption sensitivities (NEAS) achieved in these experiments are promising, but must be translated into parts-per-billion volume sensitivities to specific chemicals at the air intake in the presence of interferents to assess practical LWIR CES capabilities and identify the most promising CES techniques, configurations, and modus operandi. While NEAS are relatively easy to measure in the laboratory, the translation to practical sensitivity and selectivity limits involves numerous challenging science and engineering questions. PNNL's goals for FY03 include improving the...