Abstract
Recent advances in the development of compact sensors based on mid-infrared continuous wave (CW), thermoelectrically cooled (TEC) and room temperature operated quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) for the detection, quantification and monitoring of trace gas species and their applications in environmental and industrial process analysis will be reported. These sensors employ a 2f wavelength modulation (WM) technique based on quartz enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (QEPAS) that achieves detection sensitivity at the ppbv and sub ppbv concentration levels. The merits of QEPAS include an ultra-compact, rugged sensing module, with wide dynamic range and immunity to environmental acoustic noise. QCLs are convenient QEPAS excitation sources that permit the targeting of strong fundamental rotational-vibrational transitions which are one to two orders of magnitude more intense in the mid-infrared than overtone transitions in the near infrared spectral region.
Keywords
- Laser spectroscopy
- Quartz enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy
- Wavelength modulation spectroscopy
- Quantum cascade lasers
- Trace gas detection
- Carbon monoxide
- Nitric oxide
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Faist J (2013) Quantum cascade lasers. Oxford University Press, Oxford. ISBN 13: 978-0198528241
Capasso F (2010) High-performance midinfrared quantum cascade lasers. SPIE Opt Eng 49:111102
Razeghi M, Bai Y, Slivkin S, Davish SR (2010) High-performance InP-based midinfrared quantum cascade lasers at Northwestern University. SPIE Opt Eng 49:111103-4
Lyakh A, Maulini R, Tsekoun AG, Patel CK (2010) Progress in high-performance quantum cascade lasers. SPIE Opt Eng 49:111105
Razeghi M (2009) High-performance InP-based Mid-IR quantum cascade lasers. IEEE J Sel Top Quantum Elect 15:941–951
Le QY, Bai Y, Bandyopadhyay N, Slivken S, Razeghi M (2010) Room-temperature continuous wave operation of distributed feedback quantum cascade lasers with watt-level power output. Appl Phys Lett 97:231119-1
Dong L, Spagnolo V, Lewicki R, Tittel FK (2011) Ppb-level detection of nitric oxide using an external cavity quantum cascade laser based QEPAS sensor. Opt Express 19:24037–24045
Spagnolo V, Kosterev AA, Dong L, Lewicki R, Tittel FK (2010) NO trace gas sensor based on quartz enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy and external cavity quantum cascade laser. Appl Phys B 100:125–130
Kosterev AA, Bakhirkin YA, Curl RF, Tittel FK (2002) Quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy. Opt Lett 27:1902–1904
Kosterev AA, Tittel FK, Serebryakov D, Malinovsky A, Morozov A (2005) Applications of quartz tuning fork in spectroscopic gas sensing. Rev Sci Instrum 76:043105
Curl RF, Capasso F, Gmachl C, Kosterev AA, McManus B, Lewicki R, Pusharsky M, Wysocki G, Tittel FK (2010) Quantum cascade lasers in chemical physics. Chem Phys Lett Frontiers Article 487:1–18
Dong L, Kosterev AA, Thomazy D, Tittel FK (2010) QEPAS spectrophones: design, optimization, and performance. Appl Phys B 100:627–635
Ma Y, Lewicki R, Razeghi M, Tittel FK (2013) QEPAS based ppb-level detection of CO and N2O using a high power CW DFB-QCL. Opt Express 21:1008–1019
Seinfeld JH, Pandis SN (1998) Atmospheric chemistry and physics: from air pollution to climate change. Wiley, New York
Ma Y, Lewicki R, Razeghi M, Tittel FK (2013) QEPAS based ppb-level detection of CO and N2O using a high power CW DFB-QCL. Opt Express 21:1008–1019
Li J, Parchatka U, Königstedt R, Fischer H (2012) Real-time measurements of atmospheric CO using a continuous-wave room temperature quantum cascade laser based spectrometer. Opt Express 20:7590–7601
Tao L, Sun K, Amir Khan M, Miller DJ, Zondlo MA (2012) Compact and portable open-path sensor for simultaneous measurements of atmospheric N2O and CO using a quantum cascade laser. Opt Express 20:28106–28118
Kasyutich VL, Holdsworth RJ, Martin PA (2008) Mid-infrared laser absorption spectrometers based upon all-diode laser difference frequency generation and a room temperature quantum cascade laser for the detection of CO, N2O and NO. Appl Phys B 92:271–279
Acknowledgments
The Rice University group acknowledges financial support from a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant EEC-0540832 entitled “Mid-Infrared Technologies for Health and the Environment (MIRTHE)”, a NSF-ANR award for international collaboration in chemistry “Next generation of Compact Infrared Laser based Sensor for environmental monitoring (NexCILAS)” and grant C-0586 from the Robert Welch Foundation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this paper
Cite this paper
Tittel, F.K. et al. (2014). Mid-infrared Laser Based Gas Sensor Technologies for Environmental Monitoring, Medical Diagnostics, Industrial and Security Applications. In: Pereira, M., Shulika, O. (eds) Terahertz and Mid Infrared Radiation: Detection of Explosives and CBRN (Using Terahertz). NATO Science for Peace and Security Series B: Physics and Biophysics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8572-3_21
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8572-3_21
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-017-8571-6
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-8572-3
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)