Dual Absorption Broadband Photoacoustic Technique to Eliminate Interference in Gas Mixtures

This article presents a dual-wavelength band broadband photoacoustic spectroscopy (BPAS) technique ideally suited to low-energy broadband sources for industrial and environmental multigas sensing applications. The broad spectral range of the supercontinuum source is used to cover a wide range of absorption bands of various gases. The major limitation in most of the gas sensors with broadband sources is the effect of interference between gases. This article proposes a dual-wavelength technique to eliminate the impact of cross sensitivity among gases. This sensor exhibits a comprehensive concentration measurement from parts per million (ppm) to % levels. The proposed technique showed a ±1.2% error between the calculated and calibrated concentration values. We achieved a minimum detection limit (MDL) of 0.4 and 0.7 ppm for methane (CH4) with an integration time of 142 and 200 s using 2315- and 1650-nm band, respectively, 0.3 and 1.8 ppm of ammonia (NH3) with an integration time of 100 and 48 s using 2315- and 2017-nm band, respectively, and also 2.6 ppm of carbon monoxide (CO) with an integration time of 71 s using the 2315-nm band.