Department of Chemistry, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 55, FI-00014, Helsinki, Finland.
Laboratory of Photonics, Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, FI-33101, Finland.
Sci Rep. 2018 Jan 30;8(1):1848. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-20087-9.
An exceptional property of photo-acoustic spectroscopy is the zero-background in wavelength modulation configuration while the signal varies linearly as a function of absorbed laser power. Here, we make use of this property by combining a highly sensitive cantilever-enhanced photo-acoustic detector, a particularly stable high-power narrow-linewidth mid-infrared continuous-wave optical parametric oscillator, and a strong absorption cross-section of hydrogen fluoride to demonstrate the ability of cantilever-enhanced photo-acoustic spectroscopy to reach sub-parts-per-trillion level sensitivity in trace gas detection. The high stability of the experimental setup allows long averaging times. A noise equivalent concentration of 650 parts-per-quadrillion is reached in 32 minutes.
光声光谱学的一个独特性质是在波长调制配置下具有零背景,而信号随吸收的激光功率线性变化。在这里,我们利用高灵敏度的悬臂梁增强光声探测器、特别稳定的高功率窄线宽中红外连续波光参量振荡器以及氟化氢的强吸收截面的特性,展示了悬臂梁增强光声光谱学在痕量气体检测中达到亚万亿分之一级灵敏度的能力。实验装置的高稳定性允许长时间平均。在 32 分钟内达到了 650 万亿分之 6 的等效噪声浓度。