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. 2021 Dec 6:25:100321.
doi: 10.1016/j.pacs.2021.100321. eCollection 2022 Mar.

Ppb-level gas detection using on-beam quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy based on a 28 kHz tuning fork

Haoyang Lin  1 , Huadan Zheng  1 , Baiyang Antonio Zhou Montano  1 , Hongpeng Wu  2 , Marilena Giglio  3 , Angelo Sampaolo  3 , Pietro Patimisco  3 , Wenguo Zhu  1 , Yongchun Zhong  1 , Lei Dong  2 , Ruifeng Kan  4 , Jianhui Yu  1 , Vincenzo Spagnolo  3
Affiliations

Ppb-level gas detection using on-beam quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy based on a 28 kHz tuning fork

Haoyang Lin et al. Photoacoustics. .

Abstract

In this paper, an on-beam quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (QEPAS) sensor based on a custom quartz tuning fork (QTF) acting as a photoacoustic transducer, was realized and tested. The QTF is characterized by a resonance frequency of 28 kHz, ~15% lower than that of a commercially available 32.7 kHz standard QTF. One-dimensional acoustic micro resonator (AmR) was designed and optimized by using stainless-steel capillaries. The 28 kHz QTF and AmRs are assembled in on-beam QEPAS configuration. The AmR geometrical parameters have been optimized in terms of length and internal diameter. The laser beam focus position and the AmR coupling distance were also adjusted to maximize the coupling efficiency. For comparison, QEPAS on-beam configurations based on a standard QTF and on the 28 kHz QTF were compared in terms of H2O and CO2 detection sensitivity. In order to better characterize the performance of the system, H2O, C2H2 and CO2 were detected for a long time and the long-term stability was analyzed by an Allan variance analysis. With the integration time of 1 s, the detection limits for H2O, C2H2 and CO2 are 1.2 ppm, 28.8 ppb and 2.4 ppm, respectively. The detection limits for H2O, C2H2 and CO2 can be further improved to 325 ppb, 10.3 ppb and 318 ppb by increasing the integration time to 521 s, 183 s and 116 s.

Keywords: Optical sensing; Photoacoustic spectroscopy; Quartz enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy; Quartz tuning fork.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Resonance curves measured for the 28 kHz QTF and a standard QTF.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
QEPAS experimental setup based on 28 kHz QTF. DFB: distributed feedback; MFC: mass flow controller; QTF: quartz tuning fork; TA: transimpedance amplifier.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
(a) Position relationship between QTF and laser beam (b) Normalized QEPAS signal amplitude as the function of laser focus position depth.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
The schematic diagram of on-beam QEPAS spectrophone.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
QEPAS signal amplitude and QTF Q factor as the function of AmR length.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Normalized QEPAS spectra obtained by using an AmR ID of 0.4 mm, 0.6 mm and 0.8 mm respectively.
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Normalized signal amplitude as a function of the distance D between the microresonator tubes and the QTF.
Fig. 8
Fig. 8
QEPAS 2f signal measured using the 28 kHz QTF and standard QTF for H2O detection.
Fig. 9
Fig. 9
Comparison of QEPAS 2f signal based on 28 kHz QTF and standard QTF when detecting CO2.
Fig. 10
Fig. 10
QEPAS 2f signals and Allan deviations measured for H2O, C2H2 and CO2 with the 28 kHz QTF-based QEPAS systems.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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