Photoacoustic-based detector for infrared laser spectroscopy

In this contribution, we present an alternative detector technology for use in direct absorption spectroscopy setups. Instead of a semiconductor based detector, we use the photoacoustic effect to gauge the light intensity. To this end, the target gas species is hermetically sealed under excess pressure inside a miniature cell along with a MEMS microphone. Optical access to the cell is provided by a quartz window. The approach is particularly suitable for tunable diode laser spectroscopy in the mid-infrared range, where numerous molecules exhibit large absorption cross sections. Moreover, a frequency standard is integrated into the method since the number density and pressure inside the cell are constant. We demonstrate that the information extracted by our method is at least equivalent to that achieved using a semiconductor-based photon detector. As exemplary and highly relevant target gas, we have performed direct spectroscopy of methane at the R3-line of the 2v3 band at 6046.95 cm−1 using both detector technologies in parallel. The results may be transferred to other infrared-active transitions without loss of generality.