Phase shift cavity ring down absorption spectroscopy

Mid-infrared optical frequency comb spectroscopy using an all-silica antiresonant hollow-core fiber

We present the first mid-infrared optical frequency comb spectrometer employing an absorption cell based on self-fabricated, all-silica antiresonant hollow-core fiber (ARHCF). The spectrometer is capable of measuring sub-mL sample volumes with 26 m interaction length and noise equivalent absorption sensitivity of 8.3 × 10-8 cm-1 Hz-1/2 per spectral element in the range of 2900 cm-1 to 3100 cm-1. Compared to a commercially available multipass cell, the ARHCF offers a similar interaction length in a 1000 times lower gas sample volume and a 2.8 dB lower transmission loss, resulting in better absorption sensitivity. The broad transmission windows of ARHCFs, in combination with a tunable optical frequency comb, make them ideal for multispecies detection, while the prospect of measuring samples in small volumes makes them a competitive technique to photoacoustic spectroscopy along with the robustness and prospect of coiling the ARHCFs open doors for miniaturization and out-of-laboratory applications.

Lipoarabinomannan-based tuberculosis diagnosis using a fiber cavity ring down biosensor

Despite existing for millennia, tuberculosis (TB) remains a persistent global health challenge. A significant obstacle in controlling TB spread is the need for a rapid, portable, sensitive, and accurate diagnostic test. Currently, sputum culture stands as a benchmark test for TB diagnosis. Although highly reliable, it necessitates advanced laboratory facilities and involves considerable testing time. In this context, we present a rapid, portable, and cost-effective optical fiber sensor designed to measure lipoarabinomannan (LAM), a TB biomarker found in patients' urine samples. Our sensing approach is based on the applications of phase shift-cavity ringdown spectroscopy (PS-CRDS) to an optical fiber cavity created by two fiber Bragg gratings. A tapered fiber is spliced inside the optical cavity to serve as the sensing head. We functionalize the tapered fiber surface with anti-LAM antigen CS-35 through a unique chemistry, creating a strong affinity for LAM molecules. We measure the phase difference between the cavity transmission and the reference modulating signal at the cavity output. The measured phase is directly proportional to the injected LAM concentrations in aqueous solutions over the sensing head. Our demonstrated sensor provides a detection limit of 10 pg/mL and a sensitivity of 0.026°/pg/mL. This sensor holds promise for numerous applications in the healthcare sector, particularly in low-resource settings.

Detection of aflatoxin M1 by fiber cavity attenuated phase shift spectroscopy

Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) is a carcinogenic compound commonly found in milk in excess of the WHO permissible limit, especially in developing countries. Currently, state-of-the-art tests for detecting AFM1 in milk include chromatographic systems and enzyme-linked-immunosorbent assays. Although these tests provide fair accuracy and sensitivity, they require trained laboratory personnel, expensive infrastructure, and many hours to produce final results. Optical sensors leveraging spectroscopy have a tremendous potential of providing an accurate, real-time, and specialist-free AFM1 detector. Despite this, AFM1 sensing demonstrations using optical spectroscopy are still immature. Here, we demonstrate an optical sensor that employs the principle of cavity attenuated phase shift spectroscopy in optical fiber cavities for rapid AFM1 detection in aqueous solutions at 1550 nm. The sensor constitutes a cavity built by two fiber Bragg gratings. We splice a tapered fiber of < 10 μm waist inside the cavity as a sensing head. For ensuring specific binding of AFM1 in a solution, the tapered fiber is functionalized with DNA aptamers followed by validation of the conjugation via FTIR, TGA, and EDX analyses. We then detect AFM1 in a solution by measuring the phase shift between a sinusoidally modulated laser input and the sensor output at resonant frequencies of the cavity. Our results show that the sensor has the detection limit of 20 ng/L (20 ppt), which is well below both the U.S. and the European safety regulations. We anticipate that the present work will lead towards a rapid and accurate AFM1 sensor, especially for low-resource settings.

Widely tunable cavity-enhanced frequency combs

We describe the cavity enhancement of frequency combs over a wide tuning range of 450-700 nm (${ \gt }7900\;{{\rm cm}^{ - 1}} $>7900cm^-1), covering nearly the entire visible spectrum. Tunable visible frequency combs from a synchronously pumped optical parametric oscillator are coupled into a four-mirror, dispersion-managed cavity with a finesse of 600-1400. An intracavity absorption path length enhancement greater than 190 is obtained over the entire tuning range, while preserving intracavity spectral bandwidths capable of supporting sub-200 fs pulse durations. These tunable cavity-enhanced frequency combs can find many applications in nonlinear optics and spectroscopy.

Description of an air temperature sensor based on O2 absorption spectroscopy

In this paper, we describe in detail an assembled open-path optical cavity to act as a temperature sensor of air. A metal absorption cell in a temperature-regulated tube furnace is placed at the center of an optical cavity. The optical cavity consists of two mirrors, two nitrogen buffer sleeves, and the open cell. The air is injected through a fitting in one extreme of the metal tube and travels half the tube length through a channel in the wall of the tube. The channel directs the air towards the center of the cell. The air flowing is heated at the temperature of the metal tube in contact with the furnace. The heated air injected at the center of the tube, flows towards the open extremes of the tube. The nitrogen buffer sleeves protect the mirrors from the heated air. The temperature of the air flowing through the tube is determined by measuring the absorption of the A band of oxygen as a function of the wavenumber in the 769-755 nm wavelength range. The absorption technique is phase-shift cavity ring down spectroscopy. To obtain the temperature, the energy of the lower rotational state for eleven selected rotational transitions is linearly fitted to a logarithmic function that contains the relative intensity of the rotational transition, the initial and final rotational quantum numbers and the energy of the transition. Accuracy of the measurement is determined by comparing the calculated temperature from the spectra with the analog reading of the temperature-regulated tube furnace. This technique is proposed for exhaust air temperature measurements of combustion chambers and cooling air after passing through the blades of a turbine.

Cavity Attenuated Phase Shift Faraday Rotation Spectroscopy

Cavity attenuated phase shift Faraday rotation spectroscopy has been developed and demonstrated by oxygen detection near 762 nm. The system incorporates a high-finesse cavity together with phase-sensitive balanced polarimetric detection for sensitivity enhancement and achieves a minimum detectable polarization rotation angle (1σ) of 5.6 × 10^-9 rad/√Hz, which corresponds to an absorption sensitivity of 4.5 × 10^-10 cm^-1/√Hz without the need for high sampling rate data acquisition. The technique is insusceptible to spectral interferences, which makes it highly suitable for chemical trace gas detection of paramagnetic molecules such as nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, oxygen, and the hydroxyl/hydroperoxyl radicals.

Cavity Ring-Down Absorption of O2 in Air as a Temperature Sensor for an Open and a Cryogenic Optical Cavity

The A-band of oxygen has been measured at low resolution at temperatures between 90 K and 373 K using the phase shift cavity ring down (PS-CRD) technique. For temperatures between 90 K and 295 K, the PS-CRD technique presented here involves an optical cavity attached to a cryostat. The static cell and mirrors of the optical cavity are all inside a vacuum chamber at the same temperature of the cryostat. The temperature of the cell can be changed between 77 K and 295 K. For temperatures above 295 K, a hollow glass cylindrical tube without windows has been inserted inside an optical cavity to measure the temperature of air flowing through the tube. The cavity consists of two highly reflective mirrors which are mounted parallel to each other and separated by a distance of 93 cm. In this experiment, air is passed through a heated tube. The temperature of the air flowing through the tube is determined by measuring the intensity of the oxygen absorption as a function of the wavenumber. The A-band of oxygen is measured between 298 K and 373 K, with several air flow rates. To obtain the temperature, the energy of the lower rotational state for seven selected rotational transitions is linearly fitted to a logarithmic function that contains the relative intensity of the rotational transition, the initial and final rotational quantum numbers, and the energy of the transition. Accuracy of the temperature measurement is determined by comparing the calculated temperature from the spectra with the temperature obtained from a calibrated thermocouple inserted at the center of the tube. This flowing air temperature sensor will be used to measure the temperatures of cooling air at the input (cold air) and output (hot air) after cooling the blades of a laboratory gas turbine. The results could contribute to improvements in turbine blade cooling design.

Microwave-assisted frequency domain measurement of fiber-loop ring-down system

A new frequency domain measurement method for a fiber-loop ring-down system is proposed in this Letter. Compared to traditional time domain measurement, this method uses a microwave modulated continuous wave (CW) laser as a light source, making full use of the duty cycle to achieve enhanced measurement efficiency. By measuring the amplitude modulation over a frequency span, this technique can be used to determine the ring-down time in the frequency domain, which will then be used to calculate the loss in the ring.

Phase-shift feedback cavity ring-down spectroscopy

Phase-shift cavity-enhanced techniques have been used to measure optical losses with relatively simple electronics. Instead of measuring the phase shift, in this work the intensity modulation frequency is varied using feedback to keep the phase shift locked to a target value. The modulation frequency then becomes a signal from which cavity losses can be estimated. The technique is applied with a super luminescent diode to measure losses resulting from the addition of acetylene to a cavity containing nitrogen at ambient temperature and pressure. The technique, phase-shift feedback cavity ring down, is compared to phase-shift cavity ring-down spectroscopy.

Optical re-injection in cavity-enhanced absorption spectroscopy

Non-mode-matched cavity-enhanced absorption spectrometry (e.g., cavity ringdown spectroscopy and integrated cavity output spectroscopy) is commonly used for the ultrasensitive detection of trace gases. These techniques are attractive for their simplicity and robustness, but their performance may be limited by the reflection of light from the front mirror and the resulting low optical transmission. Although this low transmitted power can sometimes be overcome with higher power lasers and lower noise detectors (e.g., in the near-infrared), many regimes exist where the available light intensity or photodetector sensitivity limits instrument performance (e.g., in the mid-infrared). In this article, we describe a method of repeatedly re-injecting light reflected off the front mirror of the optical cavity to boost the cavity's circulating power and deliver more light to the photodetector and thus increase the signal-to-noise ratio of the absorption measurement. We model and experimentally demonstrate the method's performance using off-axis cavity ringdown spectroscopy (OA-CRDS) with a broadly tunable external cavity quantum cascade laser. The power coupled through the cavity to the detector is increased by a factor of 22.5. The cavity loss is measured with a precision of 2 × 10(-10) cm(-1)/√Hz; an increase of 12 times over the standard off-axis configuration without reinjection and comparable to the best reported sensitivities in the mid-infrared. Finally, the re-injected CRDS system is used to measure the spectrum of several volatile organic compounds, demonstrating the improved ability to resolve weakly absorbing spectroscopic features.

Offline estimation of decay time for an optical cavity with a low pass filter cavity model

This Letter presents offline estimation results for the decay-time constant for an experimental Fabry-Perot optical cavity for cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS). The cavity dynamics are modeled in terms of a low pass filter (LPF) with unity DC gain. This model is used by an extended Kalman filter (EKF) along with the recorded light intensity at the output of the cavity in order to estimate the decay-time constant. The estimation results using the LPF cavity model are compared to those obtained using the quadrature model for the cavity presented in previous work by Kallapur et al. The estimation process derived using the LPF model comprises two states as opposed to three states in the quadrature model. When considering the EKF, this means propagating two states and a (2×2) covariance matrix using the LPF model, as opposed to propagating three states and a (3×3) covariance matrix using the quadrature model. This gives the former model a computational advantage over the latter and leads to faster execution times for the corresponding EKF. It is shown in this Letter that the LPF model for the cavity with two filter states is computationally more efficient, converges faster, and is hence a more suitable method than the three-state quadrature model presented in previous work for real-time estimation of the decay-time constant for the cavity.

A developed optical-feedback cavity ring-down spectrometer and its application

A developed spectrometer based on optical-feedback cavity ring-down spectroscopy (OF-CRDS) has been demonstrated with a distributed feedback laser diode and a V-shaped glass ceramic cavity. The laser is coupled to the V-shaped cavity, which creates an absorption path length greater than 2.8 km, and resonance between the laser frequency and the cavity modes is realized by modulating the cavity length instead of tuning the laser wavelength to obtain a higher resolution. A noise-equivalent absorption coefficient of ~2.6 × 10(-8) cm(-1)Hz(-1/2) (1σ) is determined with spectral resolution of ~0.003 cm(-1) and spectral range of 1.2 cm(-1). As an application example, the absorption spectrum measurement of water vapor in the spectral range of 6590.3~6591.5 cm(-1) is demonstrated with this spectrometer.

Simultaneous measurement of quality factor and wavelength shift by phase shift microcavity ring down spectroscopy

Optical resonant microcavities with ultra high quality factors are widely used for biosensing. Until now, the primary method of detection has been based upon tracking the resonant wavelength shift as a function of biodetection events. One of the sources of noise in all resonant-wavelength shift measurements is the noise due to intensity fluctuations of the laser source. An alternative approach is to track the change in the quality factor of the optical cavity by using phase shift cavity ring down spectroscopy, a technique which is insensitive to the intensity fluctuations of the laser source. Here, using biotinylated microtoroid resonant cavities, we show simultaneous measurement of the quality factor and the wavelength shift by using phase shift cavity ring down spectroscopy. These measurements were performed for disassociation phase of biotin-streptavidin reaction. We found that the disassociation curves are in good agreement with the previously published results. Hence, we demonstrate not only the application of phase shift cavity ring down spectroscopy to microcavities in the liquid phase but also simultaneous measurement of the quality factor and the wavelength shift for the microcavity biosensors in the application of kinetics measurements.

Frequency domain analysis for laser-locked cavity ringdown spectroscopy

In this paper we report on the development of a Fourier-transform based signal processing method for laser-locked Continuous Wave Cavity Ringdown Spectroscopy (CWCRDS). Rather than analysing single ringdowns, as is the norm in traditional methods, we amplitude modulate the incident light, and analyse the entire waveform output of the optical cavity; our method has more in common with Cavity Attenuated Phase Shift Spectroscopy than with traditional data analysis methods. We have compared our method to Levenburg-Marquardt non linear least squares fitting, and have found that, for signals with a noise level typical of that from a locked CWCRDS instrument, our method has a comparable accuracy and comparable or higher precision. Moreover, the analysis time is approximately 500 times faster (normalised to the same number of time domain points). Our method allows us to analyse any number of periods of the ringdown waveform at once: this allows the method to be optimised for speed and precision for a given spectrometer.

Cavity-enhanced resonant photoacoustic spectroscopy with optical feedback cw diode lasers: A novel technique for ultratrace gas analysis and high-resolution spectroscopy

Cavity-enhanced resonant photoacoustic spectroscopy with optical feedback cw diode lasers (OF-CERPAS) is introduced as a novel technique for ultratrace gas analysis and high-resolution spectroscopy. In the scheme, a single-mode cw diode laser (3 mW, 635 nm) is coupled into a high-finesse linear cavity and stabilized to the cavity by optical feedback. Inside the cavity, a build-up of laser power to at least 2.5 W occurs. Absorbing gas phase species inside the cavity are detected with high sensitivity by the photoacoustic effect using a microphone embedded in the cavity. To increase sensitivity further, coupling into the cavity is modulated at a frequency corresponding to a longitudinal resonance of an organ pipe acoustic resonator (f=1.35 kHz and Q approximately 10). The technique has been characterized by measuring very weak water overtone transitions near 635 nm. Normalized noise-equivalent absorption coefficients are determined as alpha approximately 4.4x10(-9) cm(-1) s(1/2) (1 s integration time) and 2.6x10(-11) cm(-1) s(1/2) W (1 s integration time and 1 W laser power). These sensitivities compare favorably with existing state-of-the-art techniques. As an advantage, OF-CERPAS is a "zero-background" method which increases selectivity and sensitivity, and its sensitivity scales with laser power.

Absorption detection using optical waveguide cavities

Cavity ring-down spectroscopy is a spectroscopic method that uses a high quality optical cavity to amplify the optical loss due to the light absorption by a sample. In this presentation we highlight two applications of phase-shift cavity ring-down spectroscopy that are suited for absorption measurements in the condensed phase and make use of waveguide cavities. In the first application, a fiber loop is used as an optical cavity and the sample is introduced in a gap in the loop to allow absorption measurements of nanoliters of solution at the micromolar level. A second application involves silica microspheres as high finesse cavities. Information on the refractive index and absorption of a thin film of ethylene diamine on the surface of the microresonator is obtained simultaneously by the measurements of the wavelength shift of the cavity mode spectrum and the change in optical decay time, respectively.

Phase-shift cavity ring-down spectroscopy using mid-IR light from a difference frequency generation PPLN waveguide

Approximately 200 microW of mid-infrared (mid-IR) light around 3081 cm(-1), produced by difference frequency generation (DFG) in a periodically poled lithium niobate crystal waveguide, has been used for phase-shift cavity ring-down spectroscopy measurements. The overlapping (12)C(2)H(4) (R)P(0)(14) and (P)R(6)(10) and (12)CH(2) (13)CH(2) (P)Q(3)(10) rotational lines of the nu(9) fundamental ethene vibrational band at 3081.0016 cm(-1) were probed in proof-of-principle experiments, and ethene detection was demonstrated with a minimum absorption coefficient of 1.4 x 10(-7) cm(-1) (approximately 4 min acquisition time). The compact DFG system, with a >35 cm(-1) tuning range, has a considerable potential for use in trace gas detection and in molecular spectroscopy.

Chemical sensing using fiber cavity ring-down spectroscopy

Waveguide-based cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRD) can be used for quantitative measurements of chemical concentrations in small amounts of liquid, in gases or in films. The change in ring-down time can be correlated to analyte concentration when using fiber optic sensing elements that change their attenuation in dependence of either sample absorption or refractive index. Two types of fiber cavities, i.e., fiber loops and fiber strands containing reflective elements, are distinguished. Both types of cavities were coupled to a variety of chemical sensor elements, which are discussed and compared.

Laser spectroscopy for atmospheric and environmental sensing

Lasers and laser spectroscopic techniques have been extensively used in several applications since their advent, and the subject has been reviewed extensively in the last several decades. This review is focused on three areas of laser spectroscopic applications in atmospheric and environmental sensing; namely laser-induced fluorescence (LIF), cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS), and photoluminescence (PL) techniques used in the detection of solids, liquids, aerosols, trace gases, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

Cavity ringdown spectroscopy in a hollow Bragg waveguide: electromagnetic theory and modeling

Cavity ringdown spectroscopy (CRDS) is a gas sensing technique in which an optical cavity is formed by two or more highly reflective mirrors. Herein we present an overview and historical perspective of CRDS implementations that seek to reduce or eliminate some of the disadvantages of conventional CRDS by modifications to the ringdown cavity (RDC). The hollow waveguide (HWG) CRDS concept that we introduce in this paper reduces some of the disadvantages of conventional CRDS by utilizing a hollow waveguide as the RDC. We develop the basic mathematical theory and model for the HWG-CRDS concept and provide an initial in-depth study of the Bragg waveguide for CRDS applications. We also discuss various aspects of design and performance characteristics of HWG-CRDS, including waveguide attenuation losses with and without gases in the waveguide core, transverse and longitudinal mode propagation behavior, and methods and analysis for the HWG-CRDS excitation.

A broadband absorption spectrometer using light emitting diodes for ultrasensitive, in situ trace gas detection

A broadband absorption spectrometer has been developed for highly sensitive and target-selective in situ trace gas measurements. The instrument employs two distinct modes of operation: (i) broadband cavity enhanced absorption spectroscopy (BBCEAS) is used to quantify the concentration of gases in sample mixtures from their characteristic absorption features, and (ii) periodic measurements of the cavity mirrors' reflectivity are made using step-scan phase shift cavity ringdown spectroscopy (PSCRDS). The latter PSCRDS method provides a stand-alone alternative to the more usual method of determining mirror reflectivities by measuring BBCEAS absorption spectra for calibration samples of known composition. Moreover, the instrument's two modes of operation use light from the same light emitting diode transmitted through the cavity in the same optical alignment, hence minimizing the potential for systematic errors between mirror reflectivity determinations and concentration measurements. The ability of the instrument to quantify absorber concentrations is tested in instrument intercomparison exercises for NO(2) (versus a laser broadband cavity ringdown spectrometer) and for H(2)O (versus a commercial hygrometer). A method is also proposed for calculating effective absorption cross sections for fitting the differential structure in BBCEAS spectra due to strong, narrow absorption lines that are under-resolved and hence exhibit non-Beer-Lambert law behavior at the resolution of the BBCEAS measurements. This approach is tested on BBCEAS spectra of water vapor's 4v+delta absorption bands around 650 nm. The most immediate analytical application of the present instrument is in quantifying the concentration of reactive trace gases in the ambient atmosphere. The instrument's detection limits for NO(3) as a function of integration time are considered in detail using an Allan variance analysis. Experiments under laboratory conditions produce a 1sigma detection limit of 0.25 pptv for a 10 s acquisition time, which improves with further signal averaging to 0.09 pptv in 400 s. Finally, an example of the instrument's performance under field work conditions is presented, in this case of measurements of the sum of NO(3)+N(2)O(5) concentrations in the marine boundary layer acquired during the Reactive Halogens in the Marine Boundary Layer field campaign.

Loss determination in microsphere resonators by phase-shift cavity ring-down measurements

The optical loss of whispering gallery modes of resonantly excited microresonator spheres is determined by optical lifetime measurements. The phase-shift cavity ring-down technique is used to extract ring-down times and optical loss from the difference in amplitude modulation phase between the light entering the microresonator and light scattered from the microresonator. In addition, the phase lag of the light exiting the waveguide, which was used to couple light into the resonator, was measured. The intensity and phase measurements were fully described by a model that assumed interference of the cavity modes with the light propagating in the waveguide.

A practical alternative to chemiluminescence-based detection of nitrogen dioxide: cavity attenuated phase shift spectroscopy

We present results obtained from a greatly improved version of a previously reported nitrogen dioxide monitor (Anal Chem. 2005, 77, 724-728) that utilizes cavity attenuated phase shift spectroscopy (CAPS). The sensor, which detects the optical absorption of nitrogen dioxide within a 20 nm bandpass centered at 440 nm, comprises a blue light emitting diode, an enclosed stainless steel measurement cell (26 cm length) incorporating a resonant optical cavity of near-confocal design and a vacuum photodiode detector. An analog heterodyne detection scheme is used to measure the phase shift in the waveform of the modulated light transmitted through the cell induced by the presence of nitrogen dioxide within the cell. The sensor, which operates at atmospheric pressure, fits into a 19 in.-rack-mounted instrumentation box, weighs 10 kg, and utilizes 70 W of electrical power with pump included. The sensor response to nitrogen dioxide (calculated as the cotangent of the phase shift) is demonstrated to be linear (r2 > 0.9999) within +/- 1 ppb over a range of 0-320 ppb (by volume). The device exhibits a detection limit (3sigma precision) of less than 60 parts per trillion (0.060 ppb) with 10 s integration, a value derived from measurements at NO2 concentration levels of both 0 and 20 ppb; the detection limit improves as the integration time is increased to several hundred seconds. The observed baseline drift is less than +/- 0.5 ppb overthe course of a month. An intercomparison of measurements of ambient NO2 concentrations over several days using this sensor with a quantum cascade laser-based infrared absorption spectrometer and a standard chemiluminescence-based NOx analyzer is presented. The data from the CAPS sensor are highly correlated (r2 > 0.99) with the other two instruments. The absolute agreement between the CAPS and each of the two other instruments is within the expected statistical noise associated with the infrared laser-based absorption spectrometer (+/- 0.3 ppb with 10 s sampling) and chemiluminescence analyzer (+/- 0.4 ppb with 60 s averaging). The major limitation concerning accuracy is a direct spectral interference with phototchemically produced 1,2-dicarbonyl species (e.g., glyoxal, methylglyoxal). However, this interference can be readily removed by shifting the detection band to a slightly longer wavelength and ensuring that the lower edge of the detection band is greater than 455 nm.

Measurements of NOx, acyl peroxynitrates, and NOy with automatic interference corrections using a NO2 analyzer and gas phase titration

NO(2) analyzers are much more valuable if they can also measure NO since the two (NO+NO(2)=NO(x)) are often found together. NO can be quantitatively converted to NO(2) by reaction with ozone and subsequent thermal decomposition of the N(2)O(5) that may form from further oxidation. The conversion of NO, along with decomposition of N(2)O(5) and removal of the remaining unreacted ozone with a heated chamber, allows for quantitative determination of NO(x) using a NO(2) analyzer and the determination of decomposed acyl peroxynitrates. Ambient tests are performed to demonstrate these methods.

Discrete sums for the rapid determination of exponential decay constants

Several computational methods are presented for the rapid extraction of decay time constants from discrete exponential data. Two methods are found to be comparably fast and highly accurate. They are corrected successive integration and a method involving the Fourier transform (FT) of the data and the application of an expression that does not assume continuous data. FT methods in the literature are found to introduce significant systematic error owing to the assumption that data are continuous. Corrected successive integration methods in the literature are correct, but we offer a more direct way of applying them which we call linear regression of the sum. We recommend the use of the latter over FT-based methods, as the FT methods are more affected by noise in the original data.

Fourier-transform cavity-enhanced absorption spectroscopy using an incoherent broadband light source

A cavity-enhanced absorption setup employing an incoherent broadband light source was used in combination with a Fourier-transform spectrometer to measure the spin-forbidden B-band of gaseous oxygen at approximately 688 nm and several weak absorption transitions of water vapor in the same spectral region at room temperature in ambient air. The experiments demonstrate that the sensitivity of a Fourier-transform spectrometer can be significantly improved by increasing the effective path length, while retaining a rather small sample volume. In comparison with a single-pass absorption measurement, we report a path-length enhancement factor of 200 and an improvement of the signal-to-noise ratio of approximately 6 in the present cavity-enhanced absorption experiment. The practical advantages and limitations of this novel approach are outlined and potential applications are briefly discussed.

Optical extinction monitor using cw cavity enhanced detection

We present details of an apparatus capable of measuring optical extinction (i.e., scattering and/or absorption) with high precision and sensitivity. The apparatus employs one variant of cavity enhanced detection, specifically cavity attenuated phase shift spectroscopy, using a near-confocal arrangement of two high reflectivity (R approximately 0.9999) mirrors in tandem with an enclosed cell 26 cm in length, a light emitting diode (LED), and a vacuum photodiode detector. The square wave modulated light from the LED passes through the absorption cell and is detected as a distorted wave form which is characterized by a phase shift with respect to the initial modulation. The amount of that phase shift is a function of fixed instrument properties-cell length, mirror reflectivity, and modulation frequency-and of the presence of a scatterer or absorber (air, particles, trace gases, etc.) within the cell. The specific implementation reported here employs a blue LED; the wavelength and spectral bandpass of the measurement are defined by the use of an interference filter centered at 440 nm with a 20 nm wide bandpass. The monitor is enclosed within a standard 19 in. rack-mounted instrumentation box, weighs 10 kg, and uses 70 W of electrical power including a vacuum pump. Measurements of the phase shift induced by Rayleigh scattering from several gases (which range in extinction coefficient from 0.4-32 Mm(-1)) exhibit a highly linear dependence (r(2)=0.999 97) when plotted as the co-tangent of the phase shift versus the expected extinction. Using heterodyne demodulation techniques, we demonstrate a detection limit of 0.04 Mm(-1) (4 x 10(-10) cm(-1)) (2sigma) in 10 s integration time and a base line drift of less than +/-0.1 Mm(-1) over a 24 h period. Detection limits decrease as the square root of integration time out to approximately 150 s.

Detection of nitrogen dioxide by cavity attenuated phase shift spectroscopy

We present initial results obtained from an optical absorption sensor for the monitoring of ambient atmospheric nitrogen dioxide concentrations (0-200 ppb). This sensor utilizes cavity attenuated phase shift spectroscopy, a technology related to cavity ringdown spectroscopy. A modulated broadband incoherent light source (a 430-nm LED) is coupled to an optically resonant cavity formed by two high-reflectivity mirrors. The presence of NO(2) in the cell causes a phase shift in the signal received by a photodetector that is proportional to the NO(2) concentration. The sensor, which employed a 0.5-m cell, was shown to have a sensitivity of 0.3 ppb in the photon (shot) noise limit. Improvements in the optical coupling of the LED to the resonant cavity would allow the sensor to reach this limit with integration times of 10 s or less (corresponding to a noise equivalent absorption coefficient of <1 x 10(-8) cm(-1) Hz(-1/2)). Over a 2-day-long period of ambient atmospheric monitoring, a comparison of the sensor with an extremely accurate and precise tunable diode laser-based absorption spectrometer showed that the CAPS-based instrument was able to reliably and quantitatively measure both large and small fluctuations in the ambient nitrogen dioxide concentration.

Capillary Electrophoresis Absorption Detection Using Fiber-Loop Ring-Down Spectroscopy

The application of phase-shift, fiber-loop, ring-down spectroscopy (PS-FLRDS) as an on-line detector for capillary electrophoresis (CE) of biomolecules is demonstrated. CE was conducted using a custom-designed capillary/fiber interface coupled to an absorption detector, which is based on the ring-down of an optical signal in a closed fiber waveguide loop. The ring-down times were obtained by measuring the phase difference between intensity modulated light entering and exiting the fiber loop. The incorporation of a microlens to enhance transmission through the sample gap led to an improvement of the sensitivity by up to 80% compared to the square-cut fiber and a reduction in the detection limit. The performance of the PS-FLRDS absorption technique as an online detector was characterized by flow injection through a capillary. Good repeatability and linear response were obtained, and the detection limit using the lensed fiber/capillary interface system was determined to be alpha(min) = 1.6 cm(-1) for an absorption path of approximately 30 microm. PS-FLRDS coupled to CE was also applied to the analysis of human serum albumin (HSA) by using a NIR dye as a noncovalent label. The excess free dye and the dye/protein complex were resolved. The labeling coefficient was determined to be approximately 6, and good repeatability of peak areas (RSD = 8.7%) was obtained for the analysis of HSA. Furthermore, an excellent linear response (R2 > 0.99) was obtained between the peak areas and concentrations of HSA. The detection limit of labeled HSA was determined to be 1.67 microM.

Phase-shift fiber-loop ring-down spectroscopy

Fiber-loop ring-down spectroscopy (FLRDS) is a recently developed absorption spectroscopic technique suitable for very small liquid samples. It is based on measurements of the optical decay constant of laser intensity in a loop made of optical waveguide material. This decay constant changes as small liquid samples containing absorbing species are introduced into the loop. In this report, it is demonstrated that one can also obtain the optical decay constant using a continuous wave laser beam that is intensity modulated and then coupled into an optical fiber loop. The inherent exponential decay in the fiber loop introduces a phase shift of the light emitted from the loop with respect to the pumping beam. By measuring this phase shift, one can readily determine the concentration of the analyte introduced between the two fiber ends and a model is established to describe the relationship. It is demonstrated that this technique, dubbed phase-shift fiber-loop ring-down spectroscopy (PS-FLRDS), is well suited as an absorption detector for any flow system in which the optical absorption path is limited by the instrument architecture. By measuring the phase angle as a function of concentration of 1,1'-diethyl-4,4'-dicarbocyanine iodide in dimethyl sulfoxide, the detection limit was determined as approximately 6 microM for a 30-40-microm absorption path. A temporal resolution of approximately 100 ms was demonstrated by a rapid displacement of the solutions between the two fiber ends. Proof-of-principle use of the PS-FLRDS detection in capillary flow systems using a commercial four-way microcross established that the alignment of the fiber and the capillary can be made simple and effective, while retaining both a low detection limit and a fast response.

Biochemical signal detection in miniaturized fluidic systems by integrated microresonator

An optical sensor integrated into a polymer microfluidic chip is proposed as a low cost solution to highly parallel biochemical analysis. The sensor consists of a single high-finesse optical resonator for direct analytes detection. High quality silica microspheres (diameter approximately 300 microm) are easily produced and low-loss whispering gallery modes were excited through evanescent coupling at wavelengths near 1550 nm and 544 nm. The quality factor (Q) and ring down time of these modes is sensitive to minute changes in the microresonator environment thus making it an excellent candidate for a sensor. Instead of the traditional time domain studies, we determine quality factors and ring down times as long as 53.8 +/- 0.6 ns (Q approximately 10(6)) from phase shift measurements using optical sources with sinusoidal intensity modulations of 300 kHz and below.

A compact broadband cavity enhanced absorption spectrometer for detection of atmospheric NO2 using light emitting diodes

A compact and low power detector has been developed for the in situ measurement of atmospheric NO(2) using broadband cavity enhanced absorption spectroscopy. Absorption by the O(2)-O(2) collisional pair was used to determine the cavity mirror reflectivity, thus enabling the retrieval of absolute absorber concentrations by differential spectral fitting techniques. Quantitative amounts of ambient NO(2) (between 3 and 32 parts per billion) were retrieved from spectra recorded in the presence of ambient aerosol with statistical uncertainties approaching 100 ppt for a 60 s averaging period. The instrument's response was compared to that of a commercial chemiluminescence detector and was found to agree to within 6%.