Intensity-Stabilized Fast-Scanned Direct Absorption Spectroscopy Instrumentation Based on a Distributed Feedback Laser with Detection Sensitivity down to 4 × 10-6

Gang Zhao; Wei Tan; Mengyuan Jia; Jiajuan Hou; Weiguang Ma; Lei Dong; Lei Zhang; Xiaoxia Feng; Xuechun Wu; Wangbao Yin; Liantuan Xiao; Ove Axner; Suotang Jia

doi:10.3390/s16091544

Intensity-Stabilized Fast-Scanned Direct Absorption Spectroscopy Instrumentation Based on a Distributed Feedback Laser with Detection Sensitivity down to 4 × 10^-6

Sensors (Basel). 2016 Sep 21;16(9):1544. doi: 10.3390/s16091544.

Authors

Gang Zhao^{1

2}, Wei Tan^{3

4}, Mengyuan Jia^{5

6}, Jiajuan Hou^{7

8}, Weiguang Ma^{9

10

11}, Lei Dong^{12

13}, Lei Zhang^{14

15}, Xiaoxia Feng¹⁶, Xuechun Wu¹⁷, Wangbao Yin^{18

19}, Liantuan Xiao^{20

21}, Ove Axner²², Suotang Jia^{23

24}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Quantum Optics and Quantum Optics Devices, Institute of Laser Spectroscopy, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China. zhaogang030006@126.com.
² Collaborative Innovation Center of Extreme Optics, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China. zhaogang030006@126.com.
³ State Key Laboratory of Quantum Optics and Quantum Optics Devices, Institute of Laser Spectroscopy, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China. tanwei8648@126.com.
⁴ Collaborative Innovation Center of Extreme Optics, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China. tanwei8648@126.com.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Quantum Optics and Quantum Optics Devices, Institute of Laser Spectroscopy, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China. m18234129833@163.com.
⁶ Collaborative Innovation Center of Extreme Optics, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China. m18234129833@163.com.
⁷ State Key Laboratory of Quantum Optics and Quantum Optics Devices, Institute of Laser Spectroscopy, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China. jiajuanhou@163.com.
⁸ Collaborative Innovation Center of Extreme Optics, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China. jiajuanhou@163.com.
⁹ State Key Laboratory of Quantum Optics and Quantum Optics Devices, Institute of Laser Spectroscopy, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China. mwg.@sxu.edu.cn.
¹⁰ Collaborative Innovation Center of Extreme Optics, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China. mwg.@sxu.edu.cn.
¹¹ Department of Physics, Umeå University, Umeå SE-901 87, Sweden. mwg.@sxu.edu.cn.
¹² State Key Laboratory of Quantum Optics and Quantum Optics Devices, Institute of Laser Spectroscopy, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China. donglei@sxu.edu.cn.
¹³ Collaborative Innovation Center of Extreme Optics, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China. donglei@sxu.edu.cn.
¹⁴ State Key Laboratory of Quantum Optics and Quantum Optics Devices, Institute of Laser Spectroscopy, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China. k1226@sxu.edu.cn.
¹⁵ Collaborative Innovation Center of Extreme Optics, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China. k1226@sxu.edu.cn.
¹⁶ Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Shanxi Polytechnic College, Taiyuan 030006, China. fengxx0351@163.com.
¹⁷ Shanxi Guohui Optoelectronic Technology CO., Ltd., Taiyuan 030006, China. jerry@ghopto.com.
¹⁸ State Key Laboratory of Quantum Optics and Quantum Optics Devices, Institute of Laser Spectroscopy, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China. ywb65@sxu.edu.cn.
¹⁹ Collaborative Innovation Center of Extreme Optics, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China. ywb65@sxu.edu.cn.
²⁰ State Key Laboratory of Quantum Optics and Quantum Optics Devices, Institute of Laser Spectroscopy, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China. xlt@sxu.edu.cn.
²¹ Collaborative Innovation Center of Extreme Optics, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China. xlt@sxu.edu.cn.
²² Department of Physics, Umeå University, Umeå SE-901 87, Sweden. ove.axner@umu.se.
²³ State Key Laboratory of Quantum Optics and Quantum Optics Devices, Institute of Laser Spectroscopy, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China. jggp@sxu.edu.cn.
²⁴ Collaborative Innovation Center of Extreme Optics, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China. jggp@sxu.edu.cn.

Abstract

A novel, intensity-stabilized, fast-scanned, direct absorption spectroscopy (IS-FS-DAS) instrumentation, based on a distributed feedback (DFB) diode laser, is developed. A fiber-coupled polarization rotator and a fiber-coupled polarizer are used to stabilize the intensity of the laser, which significantly reduces its relative intensity noise (RIN). The influence of white noise is reduced by fast scanning over the spectral feature (at 1 kHz), followed by averaging. By combining these two noise-reducing techniques, it is demonstrated that direct absorption spectroscopy (DAS) can be swiftly performed down to a limit of detection (LOD) (1σ) of 4 × 10^-6, which opens up a number of new applications.

Keywords: DFB laser; direct absorption spectroscopy; fast scanning; intensity stabilization; polarization rotator; relative intensity noise.