A Project for Masters Level of Science, Department of Physics

Maheshwar Ghimire

Date: July 30, 2012

Outline
Why water vapor? Why absorption in infrared region? Why cavity enhanced technologies ? Why ICOS ?

Why Broadband LED source ?

Beers Law

, =

Where
= =

= ()

= 1

C = molecular concentration = Absorption cross section

Absorption Depends Upon Absorption Cross section The Path Length

Cavity Enhanced Absorption Spectroscopy (CEAS)

Light Source

Decteto r

Highly reflective cavity Mirrors

Type CRDS (Cavity ring down spectroscopy) ICOS (Integrated cavity output spectroscopy)

Cavity Ring Down Spectroscopy

In CRDS, a beam of light is injected into the cavity and the rate of decay of light which is transmitted is measured

Experiment on CRDS

On Axis TEM(3,0)

On Axis TEM(1,1)

On Axis TEM(1,0)

Cylindrical mode

For Spherical Mirrors, the stable cavity condition is

Cavity condition and relation for concentration

0< 1 1 1 <1 2

Where L is the length of the cavity and 1 and 2 are the radii of curvature of the spherical mirrors. Output response [*] Where = 1 () =
(1)

= (1 + ) is the Single pass absorption loss and is the cavity gain factor.

= ()

[*].Barbara A. Paldus and Alexander A. Kachanov, An historical overview of cavity enhanced methods , Can. J. Physics 83: 975-999

A. Combi Controller (ITC 502) B. LED Mount (TCLDM 9) C. Iris Diaphragms D. Gas Chamber E. Cavity Mirror F. Converging Lens G. Optical Chopper H. IR Sensor (PDA 155) I. Lock in Amplifier (SR 510) J. Chopper Controller (SR 540) K. (Highly Pure N2 tanks L. Throttling valve M. Humidity Sensor (HoneyWell HIH-4000-001) N. Collimating system

Experimental Set Up

Broadband LED Source (840-1020 nm)

Water Absorption Cross-section

45 *10E-26 40

LED Intensity Input /Output

Input
0.007

0.006

35
0.005 30 Probability 10115 10615 11115 11615 12115 25 20 15 0.002 10 5 0 9615 0.001 0.004

Cross-section (m2)/molecule

0.003

0 9615

10115

Wavenumber cm-1

10615 11115 Wavenumber cm-1

11615

12115

Water vapor cross section is taken from the HITRAN database and LED Input intensity distribution over frequency is considered to be Gaussian. The expected output is at 25% RH at 1 atm pressure and 100 m path length

Primary Experimental Result: Accuracy of measurement

Cavity is aligned

Output signal with free air medium

Output signal fluctuation

: 195 V
: 0.5 V

From ICOS calculation, absorption of 1.5 V of intensity with total output of 195 V signal is equivalent to Relative

Humidity of 0.66%.
Hence, Broadband LED source could be used to study water vapor concentration with sufficient accuracy.

Ready To Take the Data !

Expectation:
Signal level Increases slightly while passing Pure

Nitrogen!
Signal level decreases by different amount with different

concentration of the water vapor as shown in graph!

Problem arises! Signal level goes down significantly while

Passing Nitrogen What can be the cause? Gas is cool enough to make surrounding water vapor condensed on the mirror? Gas is heated up by passing through a long copper tube immersed in flowing hot water! Some effect of Trublance of the Supplied Nitrogen?

I have used metallic vacuum chamber so that we

can trap the Nitrogen !

Problem Solved ?
NO! Presence of Hydrocarbons in the commercially available Nitrogen?
Used Chromatographic Charcoal filter and water vapor filter!

What is the structure of output intensity of the LED?

Measured

Manufactures Information sheet!

What is the Problem:

All the above experiments shows Mirrors ? that The problem can be because of reflectivity of the mirrors!

We have tested the mirrors for change of reflectivity in

Humid environment!
Detector

Source

Manufacturing company also mentioned that some of the coating can be effected by Humid environment depending upon the process of coatings!
http://www.precisionphotonics.com/faq.asp

Conclusions
We can form sensitive Cavity by using 940 nm LED. Mirrors ( With dielectric coating by e-beam coating ) are very sensitive to moisture and they can be used to detect presence of water vapor (further study required). For the water vapor absorption cavity enhance spectroscopy , use of mirrors with e-beam coating are not good.

What Next ?
Calculation of output pattern by Using exact output pattern of LED instead of assuming Gaussian like output. Single mode 940 nm Infrared Laser Diode are available in Thor Labs ! We can test our system with these to further conform that the mirrors are moisture sensitive. Replace the mirror I have used by the mirrors coated by Ion Beam Sputtering (IBS). If collimation of the LED beam can be Improved, narrow beam of the Infrared light can be used so that we can lower the no of cavity mode and can improve the sensitivity of the system.

Acknowledgement
Advisor Prof Christopher Winstead Colleagues

Tyler Reese
Melanie Brady Rajendra Timilsina Ek Raj Adhikari

Questions ?