Abstract.
We report the spectroscopic detection of formaldehyde in ambient air using cavity leak-out spectroscopy, a cw variant of cavity ring-down spectroscopy. This technique proved to be suitable for a real-time quantitative analysis of polluted air without any preprocessing of the air sample. Using a tunable CO-overtone sideband laser for the λ=3 μm spectral region and a ring-down cell with R=99.95% mirrors, we achieved a detection limit of 2 parts per billion formaldehyde in ambient air, corresponding to a minimum detectable absorption coefficient of 7×10-9/cm (sampling time: 2 s). Calibration problems arising from the polarity of the molecule and due to HITRAN database uncertainties are discussed.
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Received: 28 March 2002 / Revised version: 7 June 2002 / Published online: 21 August 2002
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Dahnke, H., von Basum, G., Kleinermanns, K. et al. Rapid formaldehyde monitoring in ambient air by means of mid-infrared cavity leak-out spectroscopy. Appl Phys B 75, 311–316 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-002-0986-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-002-0986-5