Browsing by Author "Ma, Yufei"
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Item A Miniaturized QEPAS Trace Gas Sensor with a 3D-Printed Acoustic Detection Module(MDPI, 2017) Yang, Xiaotao; Xiao, Youhong; Ma, Yufei; He, Ying; Tittel, Frank K.A 3D printing technique was introduced to a quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (QEPAS) sensor and is reported for the first time. The acoustic detection module (ADM) was designed and fabricated using the 3D printing technique and the ADM volume was compressed significantly. Furthermore, a small grin lens was used for laser focusing and facilitated the beam adjustment in the 3D-printed ADM. A quartz tuning fork (QTF) with a low resonance frequency of 30.72 kHz was used as the acoustic wave transducer and acetylene (C2H2) was chosen as the analyte. The reported miniaturized QEPAS trace gas sensor is useful in actual sensor applications.Item A Sensitive Carbon Dioxide Sensor Based on Photoacoustic Spectroscopy with a Fixed Wavelength Quantum Cascade Laser(MDPI, 2019) Qiao, Shunda; Qu, Yanchen; Ma, Yufei; He, Ying; Wang, Yao; Hu, Yinqiu; Yu, Xin; Zhang, Zhonghua; Tittel, Frank K.A photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) based carbon dioxide (CO2) sensor with a fixed wavelength quantum cascade laser (FW-QCL) was demonstrated. The emission wavelength of the FW-QCL at 4.42 μm in the mid-infrared spectral region matched a fundamental CO2 absorption line. Amplitude modulation of the laser intensity was used to match the resonant photoacoustic (PA) cell. The noise from the background was reduced with the correlation demodulation technique. The experimental results showed that the sensor had excellent signal stability and a concentration linear response. When the integration time was 1 s, a 1σ minimum detection limit (MDL) of 2.84 parts per million (ppm) for CO2 detection was achieved. The long-term stability of the sensor was evaluated by means of an Allan deviation analysis. With an integration time of ~100 s, the MDL was improved to 1 ppm. This sensor was also used to measure the CO2 concentration from some common emission sources, such as cigarette smoking, automobile exhaust, and the combustion of some carbon-containing materials, which confirmed the stability and robustness of the reported FW-QCL based CO2-PAS sensor system.Item A Sensitive Carbon Monoxide Sensor Based on Photoacoustic Spectroscopy with a 2.3 μm Mid-Infrared High-Power Laser and Enhanced Gas Absorption(MDPI, 2019) Qiao, Shunda; Ma, Yufei; He, Ying; Yu, Xin; Zhang, Zhonghua; Tittel, Frank K.A photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS)-based carbon monoxide (CO) gas sensor with a high-power laser and an enhanced gas absorption was demonstrated. The light source was a distributed feedback (DFB), continuous wave (CW) diode laser with a high output power of ~8 mW to give a strong excitation. The target gas received optical absorption enhanced two times by using a right-angle prism reflecting the laser beam. In order to reduce the noise from the background, wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) and second-harmonic detection techniques were used. The modulation frequency and modulation depth were optimized theoretically and experimentally. Water vapor was added in the PAS sensor system to increase the vibrational–translational (V–T) relaxation rate of the CO molecule, which resulted in an ~8 times signal enhancement compared with the using of a dry CO/N2 gas mixture. The amplitude of the 2f signal had a 1.52-fold improvement compared to the one with only one time absorption. The experimental results showed that such a sensor had an excellent linear response to the optical power and gas concentration. At 1 s integration time, a minimum detection limit (MDL) for CO detection of 9.8 ppm was achieved. The long-term stability of the sensor system was evaluated with an Allan deviation analysis. When the integration time was 1100 s, the MDL improved to be 530 ppb. The detection performance of such a PAS-based CO sensor can be further improved when a laser with a higher output power and increasing optical absorption times is used.Item Compact all-fiber quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy sensor with a 30.72 kHz quartz tuning fork and spatially resolved trace gas detection(AIP Publishing LLC, 2016) Ma, Yufei; He, Ying; Yu, Xin; Zhang, Jingbo; Sun, Rui; Tittel, Frank K.An ultra compact all-fiber quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (QEPAS) sensor using quartz tuning fork (QTF) with a low resonance frequency of 30.72 kHz was demonstrated. Such a sensor architecture has the advantages of easier optical alignment, lower insertion loss, lower cost, and more compact compared with a conventional QEPAS sensor using discrete optical components for laser delivery and coupling to the QTF. A fiber beam splitter and three QTFs were employed to perform multi-point detection and demonstrated the potential of spatially resolved measurements.Item Compact and sensitive mid-infrared all-fiber quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy sensor for carbon monoxide detection(Optical Society of America, 2019) Ma, Yufei; Tong, Yao; He, Ying; Jin, Xingang; Tittel, Frank K.A compact and sensitive quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (QEPAS) based sensor for carbon monoxide (CO) detection was demonstrated by using a mid-infrared all-fiber structure as well as a 3D-printed acoustic detection module. An all-fiber configuration has advantages of easier optical alignment, lower insertion loss, improvement in system stability, reduction in sensor size and lower cost. The 3D-printed acoustic detection module was introduced to match the mid-infrared all-fiber structure and further decrease the sensor volume, which resulted in a small size of 3.5 cm3 and a weight of 5 grams. A 2.33 μm distributed feedback fiber-coupled diode laser was used as the laser excitation source. A custom quartz tuning fork (QTF) with a small-gap of 200 μm was used as the acoustic wave transducer in order to improve the signal level of the QEPAS sensor. An acoustic micro resonator was utilized as the acoustic wave enhancer. The gas pressure and laser wavelength modulation depth were optimized, respectively. Water vapor was used to accelerate the vibrational-translational relaxation rate of the targeted CO molecule. Finally, a minimum detection limit (MDL) of 4.2 part per million (ppm) was achieved, corresponding to a normalized noise equivalent absorption (NNEA) coefficient of 7.4 × 10−9 cm−1W/√Hz. An Allan deviation analysis was used to evaluate the long-term stability of the reported CO-QEPAS sensor system. With an integration time of 150 s, the MDL was improved to be 1.3 ppm.Item HCN ppt-level detection based on a QEPAS sensor with amplified laser and a miniaturized 3D-printed photoacoustic detection channel(Optical Society of America, 2018) He, Ying; Ma, Yufei; Tong, Yao; Yu, Xin; Tittel, Frank K.Ultra-high sensitive and stable detection of hydrogen cyanide (HCN) based on a quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (QEPAS) sensor was realized using an erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) as well as a miniaturized 3D-printed photoacoustic detection channel (PADC) for the first time. A HCN molecule absorption line located at 6536.46 cm-1 was selected which was in the range of the EDFA emission spectrum. The detection sensitivity of the reported EDFA-QEPAS sensor was enhanced significantly due to the high available EDFA excitation laser power. A 3D printing technique was used to develop the compact PADC, resulting in a size of 29 × 15 × 8 mm3 and a mass of ~5 g in order to improve the sensor stability and implement sensor applications requiring a compact size and light weight. At atmospheric pressure, room temperature and a 1 s acquisition time, a minimum detection limit (MDL) of 29 parts per billion (ppb) was achieved, corresponding to a normalized noise equivalent absorption (NNEA) coefficient of 1.08 × 10-8 cm-1W/Hz-1/2. The long-term performance and the stability of the HCN EDFA-QEPAS sensor system were investigated using an Allan deviation analysis. It indicated that the MDL can be improved to 220 parts per trillion (ppt) with an integration time of 300 s, which demonstrated this compact, integrated and miniaturized 3D-printed PADC based sensor had an excellent stability.Item High-Power DFB Diode Laser-Based CO-QEPAS Sensor: Optimization and Performance(MDPI, 2018) Ma, Yufei; Tong, Yao; He, Ying; Yu, Xin; Tittel, Frank K.A highly sensitive carbon monoxide (CO) trace gas sensor based on quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (QEPAS) was demonstrated. A high-power distributed feedback (DFB), continuous wave (CW) 2.33 μm diode laser with an 8.8 mW output power was used as the QEPAS excitation source. By optimizing the modulation depth and adding an optimum micro-resonator, compared to a bare quartz tuning fork (QTF), a 10-fold enhancement of the CO-QEPAS signal amplitude was achieved. When water vapor acting as a vibrational transfer catalyst was added to the target gas, the signal was further increased by a factor of ~7. A minimum detection limit (MDL) of 11.2 ppm and a calculated normalized noise equivalent absorption (NNEA) coefficient of 1.8 × 10−5 cm−1W/√Hz were obtained for the reported CO-QEPAS sensor.Item Highly sensitive acetylene detection based on multi-pass retro-reflection-cavity-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy and a fiber amplified diode laser(Optical Society of America, 2019) Ma, Yufei; Qiao, Shunda; He, Ying; Li, Yu; Zhang, Zhonghua; Yu, Xin; Tittel, Frank K.In this paper, a multi-pass retro-reflection-cavity-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) based gas sensor is reported for the first time. The multi-pass retro-reflection-cavity consisted of two right-angle prisms and was designed to reflect the laser beam to pass through the photoacoustic (PA) cell four times, which improved the acetylene (C2H2)-PAS sensor signal level significantly. The optical power of a near-infrared distributed feedback (DFB) diode laser emitting a continuous wave (CW) was amplified to 1000 mW with an erbium-doped fiber amplifier. The background noise was reduced with wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) and 2nd harmonic demodulation techniques. The linear optical power and concentration response of such a PAS sensor were investigated, and the experimental results showed excellent characteristics. When the integration the time of the sensor system was set to 1 s, the minimum detection limit (MDL) for C2H2 detection was 8.17 ppb, which corresponds to a normalized noise equivalent absorption coefficient (NNEA) of 1.84 × 10−8 cm−1W/√Hz. The long-term stability of such a multi-pass retro-reflection-cavity-enhanced PAS based C2H2 sensor was evaluated by an Allan deviation analysis. It was demonstrated that the multi-pass retro-reflection-cavity-enhanced PAS sensor had an excellent stability. An MDL of 600 ppt was achieved when the integration time was set to ~1000 s. It was verified that the method of multi-pass retro-reflection-cavity-enhanced PAS with an amplified laser source improved the sensor performance significantly. If an appropriate cavity design with increasing reflection times is used, the MDL of such a PAS-based sensor can be further improved.Item Long distance, distributed gas sensing based on micro-nano fiber evanescent wave quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy(AIP Publishing LLC, 2017) He, Ying; Ma, Yufei; Tong, Yao; Yu, Xin; Peng, Zhenfang; Gao, Jing; Tittel, Frank K.A long distance, distributed gas sensing using the micro-nano fiber evanescent wave (FEW) quartz enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy technique was demonstrated. Such a sensor scheme has the advantages of higher detection sensitivity, distributed gas sensing ability, lower cost, and a simpler fabrication procedure compared to conventional FEW gas sensors using a photonic crystal fiber or a tapered fiber with chemical sputtering. A 3 km single mode fiber with multiple tapers and an erbium doped fiber amplifier with an output optical power of 700 mW were employed to perform long distance, distributed gas measurements.Item Long distance, distributed gas sensing based on micro-nano fiber evanescent wave quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy(AIP Publishing, 2017) He, Ying; Ma, Yufei; Tong, Yao; Yu, Xin; Peng, Zhenfang; Gao, Jing; Tittel, Frank K.A long distance, distributed gas sensing using the micro-nano fiber evanescent wave (FEW) quartz enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy technique was demonstrated. Such a sensor scheme has the advantages of higher detection sensitivity, distributed gas sensing ability, lower cost, and a simpler fabrication procedure compared to conventional FEW gas sensors using a photonic crystal fiber or a tapered fiber with chemical sputtering. A 3 km single mode fiber with multiple tapers and an erbium doped fiber amplifier with an output optical power of 700 mW were employed to perform long distance, distributed gas measurements.Item Multi-quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy(AIP Publishing LLC, 2015) Ma, Yufei; Yu, Xin; Yu, Guang; Li, Xudong; Zhang, Jingbo; Chen, Deying; Sun, Rui; Tittel, Frank K.A multi-quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (M-QEPAS) sensor system for trace gas detection is reported. Instead of a single quartz tuning fork (QTF) as used in QEPAS technique, a dual QTF sensor platform was adopted in M-QEPAS to increase the signal strength by the addition of the detected QEPAS signals. Water vapor was selected as the target analyte. M-QEPAS realized a 1.7 times signal enhancement as compared to the QEPAS method for the same operating conditions. A minimum detection limit of 23.9 ppmv was achieved for the M-QEPAS sensor, with a calculated normalized noise equivalent absorption coefficient of 5.95 × 10−8 cm−1W/√Hz. The M-QEPAS sensor performance can be further improved when more QTFs are employed or an acoustic micro-resonator architecture is used.Item Planar Laser-Based QEPAS Trace Gas Sensor(MDPI, 2016) Ma, Yufei; He, Ying; Chen, Cheng; Yu, Xin; Zhang, Jingbo; Peng, Jiangbo; Sun, Rui; Tittel, Frank K.A novel quartz enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (QEPAS) trace gas detection scheme is reported in this paper. A cylindrical lens was employed for near-infrared laser focusing. The laser beam was shaped as a planar line laser between the gap of the quartz tuning fork (QTF) prongs. Compared with a spherical lens-based QEPAS sensor, the cylindrical lens-based QEPAS sensor has the advantages of easier laser beam alignment and a reduction of stringent stability requirements. Therefore, the reported approach is useful in long-term and continuous sensor operation.Item Ppb-level detection of ammonia based on QEPAS using a power amplified laser and a low resonance frequency quartz tuning fork(The Optical Society, 2017) Ma, Yufei; He, Ying; Tong, Yao; Yu, Xin; Tittel, Frank K.In this report, an ultra-high sensitive quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (QEPAS) based ammonia (NH3) sensor using a power amplified diode laser and a low resonance frequency quartz tuning fork (QTF) was demonstrated for the first time. A fiber-coupled, continuous wave (CW), distributed feedback (DFB) diode laser with a watt level output power boosted by an erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) was used as the QEPAS excitation source. A QTF with a resonance frequency of 30.72 kHz was employed as an acoustic wave transducer. The modulation depth in the wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) based QEPAS system was optimized theoretically and validated by experimental measurements. For the reported NH3 sensor system, a 418.4 ppbv (parts per billion by volume) minimum detection limit at a NH3 absorption line of 6533.4 cm−1 was achieved when the modulation depth was set to the optimum value of 0.188 cm−1. The ppb-level detection sensitivity verified the design of the reported QEPAS method and makes it suitable for use in environmental monitoring and other applications.Item QEPAS based ppb-level detection of CO and N2O using a high power CW DFB-QCL(Optical Society of America, 2013-01-14) Ma, Yufei; Lewicki, Rafał; Razeghi, Manijeh; Tittel, Frank K.An ultra-sensitive and selective quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (QEPAS) sensor platform was demonstrated for detection of carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrous oxide (N2O). This sensor used a stateof- the art 4.61 μm high power, continuous wave (CW), distributed feedback quantum cascade laser (DFB-QCL) operating at 10°C as the excitation source. For the R(6) CO absorption line, located at 2169.2 cm−1, a minimum detection limit (MDL) of 1.5 parts per billion by volume (ppbv) at atmospheric pressure was achieved with a 1 sec acquisition time and the addition of 2.6% water vapor concentration in the analyzed gas mixture. For the N2O detection, a MDL of 23 ppbv was obtained at an optimum gas pressure of 100 Torr and with the same water vapor content of 2.6%. In both cases the presence of water vapor increases the detected CO and N2O QEPAS signal levels as a result of enhancing the vibrational-translational relaxation rate of both target gases. Allan deviation analyses were performed to investigate the long term performance of the CO and N2O QEPAS sensor systems. For the optimum data acquisition time of 500 sec a MDL of 340 pptv and 4 ppbv was obtained for CO and N2O detection, respectively. To demonstrate reliable and robust operation of the QEPAS sensor a continuous monitoring of atmospheric CO and N2O concentration levels for a period of 5 hours were performed.Item Quartz Enhanced Photoacoustic Spectroscopy Based Trace Gas Sensors Using Different Quartz Tuning Forks(MDPI, 2015) Ma, Yufei; Yu, Guang; Zhang, Jingbo; Yu, Xin; Sun, Rui; Tittel, Frank K.A sensitive trace gas sensor platform based on quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (QEPAS) is reported. A 1.395 μm continuous wave (CW), distributed feedback pigtailed diode laser was used as the excitation source and H2O was selected as the target analyte. Two kinds of quartz tuning forks (QTFs) with a resonant frequency (f0) of 30.72 kHz and 38 kHz were employed for the first time as an acoustic wave transducer, respectively for QEPAS instead of a standard QTF with a f0 of 32.768 kHz. The QEPAS sensor performance using the three different QTFs was experimentally investigated and theoretically analyzed. A minimum detection limit of 5.9 ppmv and 4.3 ppmv was achieved for f0 of 32.768 kHz and 30.72 kHz, respectively.Item Quartz-tuning-fork enhanced photothermal spectroscopy for ultra-high sensitive trace gas detection(Optical Society of America, 2018) Ma, Yufei; He, Ying; Tong, Yao; Yu, Xin; Tittel, Frank K.A gas sensing method based on quartz-tuning-fork enhanced photothermal spectroscopy (QEPTS) is reported in this paper. Unlike usually used thermally sensitive elements, a sharply resonant quartz-tuning-fork with the capability of enhanced mechanical resonance was used to amplify the photothermal signal level. Acetylene (C2H2) detection was used to verify the QEPTS sensor performance. The measured results indicate a minimum detection limit (MDL) of 718 ppb and a normalized noise equivalent absorption coefficient (NNEA) of 7.63 × 10−9 cm−1W/√Hz. This performance demonstrates that QEPTS can be an ultra-high sensitive technique for gas detection and shows superiority when compared to usually used methods of tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) and quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (QEPAS). Furthermore, when compared to an optical detector, especially a costly mercury cadmium telluride (MCT) detector with cryogenic cooling used in TDLAS, a quartz-tuning-fork is much cheap and tiny. Besides, compared to the QEPAS technique, QEPTS is a non-contact measurement technique and therefore can be used for standoff and remote trace gas detection.Item Trace gas sensing based on multi-quartz-enhanced photothermal spectroscopy(Elsevier, 2020) Ma, Yufei; Hu, Yinqiu; Qiao, Shunda; He, Ying; Tittel, Frank K.A multi-quartz-enhanced photothermal spectroscopy (M-QEPTS) based trace gas detection method is reported for the first time. Different from traditional QEPTS sensor employing a single quartz tuning fork (QTF) as a photothermal detector, two QTFs were used in M-QEPTS to increase the signal amplitude by adding the generated piezoelectric signals. The coating film of the QTFs was removed in order to improve the laser absorption and transmission. Acetylene (C2H2) was chosen as the target analyte. Wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) and 2nd harmonic detection were utilized for the concentration detection. Limit of detection (LoD) of 0.97 ppm was achieved with a 1 second integration time for the M-QEPTS sensor, which realized a 1.51 times signal enhancement compared to a traditional QEPTS sensor employing a single QTF. By using an Allan deviation analysis approach, LoD of 0.19 ppm for an optimum integration time of 200 s was obtained.Item Ultra-high sensitive acetylene detection using quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy with a fiber amplified diode laser and a 30.72 kHz quartz tuning fork(AIP Publishing LLC, 2017) Ma, Yufei; He, Ying; Zhang, Ligong; Yu, Xin; Zhang, Jingbo; Sun, Rui; Tittel, Frank K.An ultra-high sensitive acetylene (C2H2) Quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (QEPAS) sensor based on a high power laser and a quartz tuning fork with a resonance frequency f0 of 30.72 kHz was demonstrated. An erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) amplified distributed feedback diode laser with a center wavelength of 1.53 μm was used as the exciting source. A 33.2 ppb minimum detection limit (MDL) at 6534.37 cm−1 was achieved, and the calculated normalized noise equivalent absorption coefficient was 3.54 × 10−8 cm−1 W/√Hz when the laser output power was 1500 mW. The ppb-level detection sensitivity of C2H2 validated the reported QEPAS method.