A new compact near-field desktop-sized diode laser thermal-lens microscope for analysis in microfluidics was proposed. A novel beam-alignment and detection systems provided high signal stability and, along with reduced number of optical elements rendered the instrument portable. The detection of nonfluorescent model species (Fe(II)-bathophenanthroline chelate) in water showed good linearity in the range of 5 x 10-9 to 1 x 10-4 M, and the limit of detection was 3.5 x 10-9 M, which corresponded to 3.5 x 10-7 absorbance units and provided a 20-fold enhancement in sensitivity compared with existing schematic.