This thesis reports work extending the scope of a recently developed gas sensing technique, multi-mode absorption spectroscopy (MUMAS). The ability of MUMAS to simultaneously detect multiple species from a mixture is demonstrated for the first time. The technique is subsequently extended to mid-infrared wavelengths, realising large gains in sensitivity. A solid-state, multi-mode laser has been developed to provide a high-performance comb source for use with MUMAS. This in-house constructed, diode-pumped, Er/Yb:glass laser operates on 10 longitudinal modes, separated by 18 GHz and centred close to 1565 nm. The extensive development and prototyping work leading to this final laser design is described. Multi-species detection with MUMAS is reported for the first time, thus demonstrating the ability of this technique to perform multi-gas sensing using a single laser and simple detection scheme. The previously described Er/Yb multi-mode laser was used to record MUMAS signals from a sample containing CO, C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>2</sub>, and N<sub>2</sub>O. The components of the mixture were detected simultaneously by identifying multiple transitions in each of the species. Temperature- and pressure-dependent modelled spectral fits to the data were used to determine the partial pressures of each species in the mixture with an uncertainty better than +/-2%. Multi-mode radiation has been successfully generated at 3.3 μm using quasi phase matched difference frequency generation (QPM-DFG). A mid-infrared laser comb was produced by optically mixing the near-infrared, multi-mode comb produced by the previously developed Er/Yb:glass laser with the single-mode output of a Nd:YAG laser operating at 1064 nm. This multi-frequency laser source was characterised to verify performance, and subsequently used to perform proof-of-principle MUMAS measurements on the strong transitions found in this spectral region. Spectra were recorded of NH<sub>3</sub> and CH<sub>4</sub> both individually and as components of a mixture. A minimum detection level for this system was determined to be 4.3 μbar m<sup>-1</sup> for CH<sub>4</sub>, a sensitivity increase of 300 over similar measurements performed in the near-IR.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:635192 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Northern, Jonathen Henry |
| Contributors | Ewart, Paul |
| Publisher | University of Oxford |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:10f3bd62-4c81-4eaf-854d-1f388af73be9 |
Page generated in 0.0018 seconds