Advanced Fiber-Coupled Diode Laser Sensor for Calibration-Free 1f-WMS Determination of an Absorption Line Intensity

Sensors. 2020. Vol. 20. No. 21. Article 6286.

Liger V., Mironenko V., Kuritsyn Y., Bolshov M.

Abstract: A new scheme for a calibration-free diode laser absorption spectroscopy (DLAS) sensor for
measuring the parameters of harsh zones is proposed. The key element of the scheme is a micro-prism
retroreflector (MPRR). The MPRR facilitates an increase in the mechanical stability of the sensor and
a decrease in the background thermal radiation in the hot areas of a tested zone. Reduction in the
broadband thermal emission allowed the application of a differential logarithmic conversion (LC)
technique for elimination of the residual amplitude modulation and other sources of non-selective
attenuation of the probing laser beam. LC allows the use of a 1f -wavelength modulation spectroscopy
(WMS) detection scheme. Combination of LC and a 1f-WMS algorithm provided a new modification
of calibration-free DLAS, which could be particularly useful for probing harsh zones with pronounced
strong turbulence and high levels of acoustic and electrical noise. The influence of the experimental
parameters and characteristics of the main electronic components of the recording and processing
system on the accuracy of the integral line intensity determination is investigated theoretically and
experimentally. The proposed optical scheme of a DLAS sensor and algorithm for the data processing
allowed the integral intensity of an absorption line to be obtained. The potential for the scheme was
exemplified with a single water vapor absorption line at 7185.6 cm-1. Simultaneous detection of
several absorption lines and data processing using the developed algorithm provides the final goal of
a DLAS sensor—determination of temperature and partial pressure of a test molecule in a probed gas
volume. The developed scheme allows the spatial multiplexing of the radiation of di erent diode
lasers (DLs), which can be used if various test molecules are to be detected, or absorption lines of a
test molecule are detected over di erent wavelength intervals.

Keywords: absorption spectroscopy, Diode laser, calibration-free, wavelength modulation, first harmonic, retroreflector, logarithmic processing, Диодная лазерная абсорбционная спектроскопия, модуляция длины волны, первая гармоника, ретрорефлектор