A method for etalon suppression in a gas detection device by determining an etalon fringe period during a calibration step without gas in dependency of the DC drive current. A measuring signal which is a function of the gas absorption and substantially independent of an intensity modulation of an initial light signal at an initial frequency (f) is generated by determining a first pre-measuring signal when the laser source is operated at the center of the gas absorption peak, a second pre-measuring signal when the laser source is operated with a DC drive current below the gas absorption peak of the gas to be detected, and a third pre-measuring signal when the laser source is operated with a DC drive current above said gas absorption peak, with a difference between said DC drive currents which corresponds to the etalon fringe period determined in a calibration step before. The final measuring signal is determined as the difference between the first pre-measuring signal and the arithmetic mean of the second pre-measuring signal and the third pre-measuring signal.