A two-laser beam technique for improving the sensitivity of low frequency open path tunable diode laser absorption spectrometer (OP-TDLAS) measurements

Open path tunable diode-laser absorption spectroscopy (OP-TDLAS) is a promising technique that is proposed for detecting low concentrations of possible biogenic gases on Mars. This technique determines the concentration of a gas by measuring the amount of laser light absorbed by molecules at a specific wavelength that is characteristic of those molecules.;One of the major factors limiting sensitivity in the OP-TDLAS systems is noise. At low modulation frequencies, 1/f noise usually dominates. This 1/f noise is minimized in many spectroscopy systems by use of high frequency techniques. However, these methods use complex instruments that include reference cells and other devices for calibration, making them relatively large and bulky. We have built a spectroscopy system for space applications that requires small, low mass and low power instrumentation, making the high frequency techniques unsuitable.;This work explores a new technique that uses a two-laser beam to reduce the affect of 1/f noise and increase the signal strength for measurements made at lower frequencies. The two lasers are excited at slightly different frequencies. An algorithm is used to estimate the total noise in the second harmonic from the combined spectra of both lasers. This noise is subtracted from the signal to give a more accurate measurement of gas concentration. The error in estimation of 1/f noise is negligible as it corresponds to noise level made at much higher frequencies. Experimental results using ammonia gas and two lasers operating at 500 and 510 Hz respectively shows that this technique reduces the effect of 1/f noise by 1/3 its normal value. Furthermore, the error in estimation of gas concentration is also reduced.