Laser-based sensor for detection of hazardous gases in the air using waveguide CO2 laser.
A spectrometer based on the principle of photoacoustic spectroscopy has been developed recently at our laboratory for the detection of hazardous gases such as O3, C2H4, SO2, NO2 and SF6. In most of our earlier works, we employed a mechanical chopper to modulate the laser beam and this chopper modulation has the crucial disadvantage of instability in the chopper frequency. Even a minor shift of about 1 Hz in the modulation frequency could significantly reduce the photoacoustic signal by an order of magnitude at the acoustic resonant mode of the photoacoustic cell. To overcome this problem, we developed a photoacoustic spectrometer where a wave guided CW CO2 laser beam is modulated electronically with the external frequency generator. Our preliminary results show that the electronic modulation of CO2 laser beam improved the sensitivity of our spectrometer by a factor of 6. The parametric dependence of photoacoustic signal on laser power, modulation frequency and trace gas concentration, was investigated and the comparison between the two modulation techniques is presented in this paper for detection of trace gases such as C2H4.
Gondal
Mohammed A
MA
Laser Research Laboratory, Physics Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. magondal@kfupm.edu.sa
Bakhtiari
Imran A
IA
Dastageer
Abdul K
AK
D000162:Acoustics; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D005030:Ethylenes / Q000032:analysis*; D005740:Gases / Q000032:analysis*; D015386:Hazardous Substances / Q000032:analysis*; D007834:Lasers; D010777:Photochemistry; D013057:Spectrum Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods
D005030:Ethylenes; D005740:Gases; D015386:Hazardous Substances; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; C036216:ethylene