Search Results (6)

A compact photoacoustic spectroscopy system integrated with a non-coaxial multi-pass cell was developed for improving the instrument performance in the measurement of methane. The multi-pass cell with compact light spot mode was proposed for concentrating the light radiation within a limited space, which effectively reduces the instrument dimension. A distributed feedback (DFB) laser with a central wavelength of 1653 nm was employed to excite the photoacoustic signal of methane. A total of 21 round trips of reflection were achieved in an acoustic resonant cavity with a radius of 4 mm and a length of 36 mm. Four microphones were installed around the cavity to collect the signal. An 11-fold enhancement of the photoacoustic signal was achieved through the multi-pass cell, compared to a single-pass cell with dimension of 10 cm. The system was used to measure different concentrations of methane, which showed good linearity. The continuous detection of 10 ppm methane gas was carried out for 6000 s. The Allan standard deviation analysis indicates that the limit of detection of the system was 5.7 ppb with an optimum integration time of 300 s. Full article

We report on the use of quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (QEPAS) for multi-gas detection. Photoacoustic (PA) spectra of mixtures of water (H${}_2$O), ammonia (NH${}_3$), and methane (CH${}_4$) were measured in the mid-infrared (MIR) wavelength range using a mid-infrared (MIR) optical parametric oscillator (OPO) light source. Highly overlapping absorption spectra are a common challenge for gas spectroscopy. To mitigate this, we used a partial least-squares regression (PLS) method to estimate the mixing ratio and concentrations of the individual gasses. The concentration range explored in the analysis varies from a few parts per million (ppm) to thousands of ppm. Spectra obtained from HITRAN and experimental single-molecule reference spectra of each of the molecular species were acquired and used as training data sets. These spectra were used to generate simulated spectra of the gas mixtures (linear combinations of the reference spectra). Here, in this proof-of-concept experiment, we demonstrate that after an absolute calibration of the QEPAS cell, the PLS analyses could be used to determine concentrations of single molecular species with a relative accuracy within a few % for mixtures of H${}_2$O, NH${}_3$, and CH${}_4$ and with an absolute sensitivity of approximately 300 (±50) ppm/V, 50 (±5) ppm/V, and 5 (±2) ppm/V for water, ammonia, and methane, respectively. This demonstrates that QEPAS assisted by PLS is a powerful approach to estimate concentrations of individual gas components with considerable spectral overlap, which is a typical scenario for real-life adoptions and applications. Full article

Magnesium (Mg) alloys possess unique properties that make them ideal for use as biodegradable implants in clinical applications. However, reports on the in vivo assessment of these alloys are insufficient. Thus, monitoring the degradation of Mg and its alloys in vivo is challenging due to the dynamic process of implant degradation and tissue regeneration. Most current works focus on structural remodeling, but functional assessment is crucial in providing information about physiological changes in tissues, which can be used as an early indicator of healing. Here, we report continuous wave near-infrared spectroscopy (CW NIRS), a non-invasive technique that is potentially helpful in assessing the implant–tissue dynamic interface in a rodent model. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects on hemoglobin changes and tissue oxygen saturation (StO₂) after the implantation of Mg-alloy (WE43) and titanium (Ti) implants in rats’ femurs using a multiwavelength optical probe. Additionally, the effect of changes in the skin on these parameters was evaluated. Lastly, combining NIRS with photoacoustic (PA) imaging provides a more reliable assessment of tissue parameters, which is further correlated with principal component analysis. Full article

A dual-gas photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) sensor based on wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) was developed and experimentally demonstrated. Distributed feedback (DFB) laser diodes, emitting at 1512 and 1653 nm, were utilized as the excitation sources for the simultaneous measurement of NH₃ and CH₄, respectively. The PAS signal was excited by modulating the DFB laser at the first longitudinal resonant frequency of a cylindrical acoustic resonator. Absorption lines for NH₃ and CH₄ were simultaneously recorded during one frequency scan of the DFB lasers without using any optical switch. The interference of NH₃ and CH₄ on each other was investigated for accurate detection. The limits of detection (LoDs) of the PAS sensor for NH₃ and CH₄ for an integration time of 100 s were determined to be 0.1 and 0.3 ppm, respectively. The present PAS sensor provides a new scheme for multi-gas analysis with the advantages of cost-effectiveness, a simple structure and multi-wavelength operation. Full article

In this study, the feasibility of assessing the chemical composition in bone using the multi-wavelength photoacoustic analysis (MWPA) method was investigated. By illuminating a bone specimen using laser light with a wavelength tunable over an optical spectrum from 680 nm to 950 nm, the optical absorption spectrum of the bone was acquired. Then, with the optical absorption spectra of all the optically absorbing chemical components in the bone known, a spectral unmixing procedure was performed to quantitatively assess the relative content of each chemical component. The experimental results from porcine rib bones demonstrated that the contents of the chemical components, including not only non-organic materials such as minerals and water but also organic materials including oxygenated hemoglobin, deoxygenated hemoglobin, lipid, and collagen, can all be assessed by MWPA. As the chemical composition in the bone is directly associated with functional and metabolic activities, the finding from this study suggests that the MWPA method could offer a new diagnostic tool for the non-invasive evaluation of bone health. Full article

This article describes a new photoacoustic FT-IR system capable of operating at elevated temperatures. The key hardware component is an optical-readout cantilever microphone that can work up to 200 °C. All parts in contact with the sample gas were put into a heated oven, incl. the photoacoustic cell. The sensitivity of the built photoacoustic system was tested by measuring 18 different VOCs. At 100 ppm gas concentration, the univariate signal to noise ratios (1σ, measurement time 25.5 min, at highest peak, optical resolution 8 cm⁻¹) of the spectra varied from minimally 19 for o-xylene up to 329 for butyl acetate. The sensitivity can be improved by multivariate analyses over broad wavelength ranges, which effectively co-adds the univariate sensitivities achievable at individual wavelengths. The multivariate limit of detection (3σ, 8.5 min, full useful wavelength range), i.e., the best possible inverse analytical sensitivity achievable at optimum calibration, was calculated using the SBC method and varied from 2.60 ppm for dichloromethane to 0.33 ppm for butyl acetate. Depending on the shape of the spectra, which often only contain a few sharp peaks, the multivariate analysis improved the analytical sensitivity by 2.2 to 9.2 times compared to the univariate case. Selectivity and multi component ability were tested by a SBC calibration including 5 VOCs and water. The average cross selectivities turned out to be less than 2% and the resulting inverse analytical sensitivities of the 5 interfering VOCs was increased by maximum factor of 2.2 compared to the single component sensitivities. Water subtraction using SBC gave the true analyte concentration with a variation coefficient of 3%, although the sample spectra (methyl ethyl ketone, 200 ppm) contained water from 1,400 to 100k ppm and for subtraction only one water spectra (10k ppm) was used. The developed device shows significant improvement to the current state-of-the-art measurement methods used in industrial VOC measurements. Full article