We report in this letter the first application of Cavity Ringdown Spectrosc
opy (CRDS) to the quantitative detection of negative ions -H- -ions in a ma
gnetic multipole source in this specific case. The absorption connected wit
h the photodetachment process is measured. A pulsed (tau approximate to 15
ns) green (lambda = 532 nm) laser (Nd:YAG with SHG) beam is radiated into a
high-Q cavity containing the discharge plasma. The temporal behaviour of t
he decaying pulse at the cavity exit yields the density of absorbing H- -io
ns on the basis of the known (broadband) photodetachment cross-section. The
densities determined by CRDS agree well with earlier measurements obtained
with a multipass scheme and with the alternative method which consists in
the detection with a Langmuir probe of the electrons released in the photod
etachment process.