Tunable, narrow-bandwidth (<200-MHz), ~215-nm radiation was produced by frequency quadrupling the ~860-nm output of a high-power, pulsed GaAlAs tapered amplifier seeded by an external-cavity diode laser. Pulsing the amplifier increased the 860 nm?215 nm conversion efficiency by 2 orders of magnitude with respect to cw operation. Detection of nitric oxide and sulfur dioxide by high-resolution absorption spectroscopy was demonstrated.