Anatoliy Kosterev, PhD

Senior Faculty Fellow
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Rice University

Quartz enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy based gas sensing: systems and applications

This talk will focus on opportunities for a recent novel development at Rice of a compact sensitive and selective trace gas sensor technology based on quartz enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (QEPAS)1,2 QEPAS takes advantage of the extremely high quality factor of quartz crystals, particularly quartz tuning forks, which serve as resonant microphones detecting pressure waves induced by a modulated laser beam absorbed by a target gas. The principal advantages of QEPAS include: ultra-small gas sample volume
(< 1 mm3) required for analysis; immunity to environmental acoustic noise and optical source instabilities; applicability in a wide range of pressures, including atmospheric pressure; maintenance-free operation, reliability and cost-effectiveness, as well as high detection sensitivity. QEPAS detection of trace chemical species is expected to find applications in such diverse fields as in industrial process control, early fire detection, atmospheric chemistry, medical diagnostics, life sciences, nuclear science and homeland security.

References

  1. A.A. Kosterev, Y.A. Bakhirkin, R.F. Curl, and F.K. Tittel, "Quartz-Enhanced Photoacoustic Spectroscopy," Optics Letters 27, 1902-1904 (2002)
  2. A.A. Kosterev, F.K. Tittel, D.V. Serebryakov, A.L. Malinovsky, and I.V. Morozov, "Applications of Quartz Tuning Forks in Spectroscopic Gas Sensing,"eview of Scientific Instruments 76, 043105 (2005)
Thursday, September 7, 2006
3:00 p.m. - Duncan Hall 1049
Rice University

ECE Affiliates Meeting



Last modified: August 10, 2006