An open-path, hand-held laser system for the detection of methane gas
Date published
2005-06
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Supervisor/s
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Institute of Physics
Department
Type
Article
ISSN
1464-4258
Format
Citation
van Well B, Murray S, Hodgkinson J, et al., (2005) An open-path, hand-held laser system for the detection of methane gas. Journal of Optics A: Pure and Applied Optics Volume 7, Issue 6, pp. S420-S424
Abstract
We have developed an open-path hand-held gas detector incorporating a distributed feedback InGaAs laser diode at 1.65 µm. Incorporated into a hand-held transceiver unit, the emitted laser beam is backscattered from nearby surfaces, collected and focused onto an amplified InGaAs detector using a 150 mm diameter plastic Fresnel lens. At ranges of 4–5 m, a typical backscattered signal is tens of nanowatts of laser light. Applying second derivative wavelength modulation spectroscopy gives a sensitivity to methane of better than 10 parts per million over a one metre path length. A number of demonstration units have been fabricated and successfully evaluated by end users.
Description
Software Description
Software Language
Github
Keywords
methane, wavelength modulation spectroscopy, instrumentation, infrared spectroscopy, remote detection