Hydrogen peroxide detection with quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy using a distributed-feedback quantum cascade laser

A quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy sensor system was developed for the sensitive detection of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) using its absorption transitions in the v6 fundamental band at ∼7.73 μm. The recent availability of distributed-feedback quantum cascade lasers provides convenient access to a strong H2O2 absorption line located at 1295.55 cm−1. Sensor calibration was performed by means of a water bubbler that generated titrated average H2O2vapor concentrations. A minimum detection limit of 12 parts per billion (ppb) corresponding to a normalized noise equivalent absorption coefficient of 4.6 × 10−9 cm−1W/Hz1/2 was achieved with an averaging time of 100 s

Doubly resonant photoacoustic spectroscopy: ultra-high sensitivity meets ultra-wide dynamic range

Photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) based gas sensors with high sensitivity, wide dynamic range, low cost, and small footprint are desirable across a broad range of applications in energy, environment, safety, and public health. However, most works have focused on either acoustic resonator to enhance acoustic wave or optical resonator to enhance optical wave. Herein, we develop a gas sensor based on doubly resonant PAS in which the acoustic and optical waves are simultaneously enhanced using combined optical and acoustic resonators in a centimeter-long configuration. Not only the lower detection limit is enhanced by the double standing waves, but also the upper detection limit is expanded due to the short resonators. As an example, we developed a sensor by detecting acetylene (C2H2), achieving a noise equivalent absorption of 5.7*10-13 cm-1 and a dynamic range of eight orders. Compared to the state-of-the-art PAS gas sensors, the developed sensor increases the sensitivity by two orders of magnitude and extends the dynamic range by three orders of magnitude. Besides, a laser-cavity-molecule locking strategy is proposed to provide additional flexibility of fast gas detection

Compact and Versatile QEPAS-Based Sensor Box for Simultaneous Detection of Methane and Infrared Absorber Gas Molecules in Ambient Air

In this work we report on an innovative sensor box employing two acoustic detection modules connected in series for quartz-enhanced photoacoustic multi-gas detection. One detection module is coupled with an internal distributed-feedback quantum cascade laser (DFB-QCL) emitting at ∼7.719 µm for methane (CH4) sensing, while the second module has been designed to be coupled with an external laser source targeting the absorption features of a specific gas molecule Mx in the infrared spectral range. The sensor box can thus be employed for any application, depending on the CH4/Mx gas combination to be detected. The ∼7.719 µm DFB-QCL also allowed water vapor monitoring. To demonstrate the sensor versatility, we report on the QEPAS-box environmental monitoring application by simultaneously detecting in air methane, which is a greenhouse gas, nitric oxide (NO), an ozone depleting substance, and water vapor. Sensitivity levels of 4.30 mV ppm−1 and 17.51 mV ppm−1 and minimum detection limits of 48 ppb and 11 ppb for methane and nitric oxide detection were achieved, respectively. The sensor box operation was tested by analysing ambient air. Average concentrations of ∼1.73 ppm of CH4, ∼0.134 ppm of NO and 1.8% of H2O were measured

Single-tube on-beam quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy.

Quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (QEPAS) with a single-tube acoustic microresonator (AmR) inserted between the prongs of a custom quartz tuning fork (QTF) was developed, investigated, and optimized experimentally. Due to the high acoustic coupling efficiency between the AmR and the QTF, the single-tube on-beam QEPAS spectrophone configuration improves the detection sensitivity by 2 orders of magnitude compared to a bare QTF. This approach significantly reduces the spectrophone size with respect to the traditional on-beam spectrophone configuration, thereby facilitating the laser beam alignment. A 1σ normalized noise equivalent absorption coefficient of 1.21×10(-8) cm(-1)·W/√Hz was obtained for dry CO2 detection at normal atmospheric pressure

Quartz enhanced photoacoustic H2S gas sensor based on a fiber-amplifier source and a custom tuning fork with large prong spacing

A quartz enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (QEPAS) sensor, employing an erbium-doped fiber amplified laser source and a custom quartz tuning fork (QTF) with its two prongs spaced ∼800 μm apart, is reported. The sensor employs an acoustic micro-resonator (AmR) which is assembled in an “on-beam” QEPAS configuration. Both length and vertical position of the AmR are optimized in terms of signal-to-noise ratio, significantly improving the QEPAS detection sensitivity by a factor of ∼40, compared to the case of a sensor using a bare custom QTF. The fiber-amplifier-enhanced QEPAS sensor is applied to H2S trace gas detection, reaching a sensitivity of ∼890 ppb at 1 s integration time, similar to those obtained with a power-enhanced QEPAS sensor equipped with a standard QTF, but with the advantages of easy optical alignment, simple installation, and long-term stability

Simultaneous dual-gas QEPAS detection based on a fundamental and overtone combined vibration of quartz tuning fork

A dual-gas quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (QEPAS) sensor system based on a frequency division multiplexing technique of a quartz tuning fork (QTF) was developed and experimentally demonstrated. Two beams from two independently modulated lasers are focused at two different positions between the QTF prongs to excite both the QTF fundamental and 1st overtone flexural modes simultaneously. The 2f-wavelength modulation technique is employed by applying two sinusoidal dithers, whose frequencies are equal to a half of the QTF fundamental and 1st overtone frequencies, respectively, to the currents of two excitation lasers. The resonance frequency difference between two flexural modes ensures that the correlated photoacoustic signals generated by different target gases do not interfere with each other. The proposed QEPAS methodology realizes a continuous real-time dual-gas monitoring with a simple setup and small sensor size compared with previous multi-gas QEPAS sensors

Ultra-highly sensitive HCl-LITES sensor based on a low-frequency quartz tuning fork and a fiber-coupled multi-pass cell

In this paper, an ultra-highly sensitive light-induced thermoelastic spectroscopy (LITES) based hydrogen chloride (HCl) sensor, exploiting a custom low-frequency quartz tuning fork (QTF) and a fiber-coupled multi-pass cell (MPC) with optical length of 40 m, was demonstrated. A low resonant frequency of 2.89 kHz of QTF is advantageous to produce a long energy accumulation time in LITES. Furthermore, the use of an MPC with the fibercoupled structure not only avoids the difficulty in optical alignment but also enhances the system robustness. A distributed feedback (DFB) diode laser emitting at 1.74 mu m was used as the excitation source. Under the same operating conditions, the using of low-frequency QTF provided a similar to 2 times signal improvement compared to that achieved using a standard 32 kHz QTF. At an integration time of 200 ms, a minimum detection limit (MDL) of 148 ppb was achieved. The reported sensor also shows an excellent linear response to HCl gas concentration in the investigated range

New approaches in quartz-enhanced photoacoustic sensing

We report on the design and realization of custom quartz tuning forks with different geometries and sizes aimed to improve the photoacoustic effect in quartz-enhanced photoacoustic (QEPAS) sensor systems. A detailed analysis of the piezoelectric properties in terms of resonance frequencies, quality factors, gas damping was performed

Ppt level carbon monoxide detection based on light-induced thermoelastic spectroscopy exploring custom quartz tuning forks and a mid-infrared QCL

In this paper, we report on an ultra-highly sensitive light-induced thermoelastic spectroscopy (LITES)-based carbon monoxide (CO) sensor exploiting custom quartz tuning forks (QTFs) as a photodetector, a multi-pass cell and a mid-infrared quantum cascade laser (QCL) for the first time. The QCL emitting at 4.58 gm with output power of 145 mW was employed as exciting source and the multi-pass cell was employed to increase the gas absorption pathlength. To reduce the noise level, wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) and second harmonic demodulation techniques were exploited. Three QTFs including two custom QTFs (#1 and #2) with different geometries and a commercial standard QTF (#3) were tested as photodetector in the gas sensor. When the integration time of the system was set at 200 ms, minimum detection limits (MDLs) of 750 part-per-trillion (ppt), 4.6 part-per-billion (ppb) and 5.8 ppb were achieved employing QTF #1 #2, and #3, respectively. A full sensor calibration was achieved using the most sensitive QTF#1, demonstrating an excellent linear response with CO concentration. (C) 2021 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreemen