Fiber-Optic Photoacoustic Gas Sensor Based on a Miniaturized Multi-pass Cell with an Elliptical Cross-section
摘要
A miniaturized multi-pass cell (MPC) enhanced fiber-optic photoacoustic sensor (FOPAS) with an elliptical cross-section tube is presented for trace gas detection. Compared with a circular cross-section, the elliptical cross-section reduces the volume of the gas cell and enhances the photoacoustic signal intensity without decreasing the number of reflections. The elliptical cross-section of the photoacoustic tube has a long axis of 10 mm and a short axis of 6 mm, reducing the gas chamber volume to 659.7 µL. After simulation analysis, the maximum number of light reflections in the photoacoustic cell is determined to be 34 times, and 17 elliptical spots are formed on the reflecting surface. The effective optical path length is 476 mm. To further enhance the sensitivity of photoacoustic detection, a fiber-optic cantilever detector is used. The experimental results show that the photoacoustic signal with multiple reflections is enhanced by 15.2 times compared to a single reflection. When the average time is 400 s, the detection limit of the designed sensor reaches 1.5 ppb. The normalized noise equivalent absorption (NNEA) coefficient of the photoacoustic system is 1.69 × 10−9 W·cm−1·Hz(−1/2).