Browsing by Author "Chieco, Leonardo"

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    Highly sensitive gas leak detector based on a quartz-enhanced photoacoustic SF6 sensor
    (The Optical Society, 2016) Sampaolo, Angelo; Patimisco, Pietro; Giglio, Marilena; Chieco, Leonardo; Scamarcio, Gaetano; Tittel, Frank K.; Spagnolo, Vincenzo
    The implementation, performance validation, and testing of a gas-leak optical sensor based on mid-IR quartz-enhanced photoacoustic (QEPAS) spectroscopic technique is reported. A QEPAS sensor was integrated in a vacuum-sealed test station for mechatronic components. The laser source for the sensor is a quantum cascade laser emitting at 10.56 µm, resonant with a strong absorption band of sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), which was selected as a leak tracer. The minimum detectable concentration of the QEPAS sensor is 2.7 parts per billion with an integration time of 1 s, corresponding to a sensitivity of leak flows in the 10−9 mbar∙l/s range, comparable with state-of-the-art leak detection techniques.