Study of a distributed feedback diode laser based hygrometer combined Herriot-gas cell and waterless optical components

• Published in: Photonic sensors (Berlin) 2016-09, Vol.6 (3), p.214-220
• Main Authors: Wei, Yubin, Chang, Jun, Lian, Jie, Wang, Qiang, Wei, Wei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Lasers; Measurement Science and Instrumentation; Microwaves; Optical Devices; Optics; Photonics; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Regular; RF and Optical Engineering
• ISSN: 1674-9251; 2190-7439
• DOI: 10.1007/s13320-016-0320-1

A distributed feedback diode laser (DFB-DL) based hygrometer combined with a long-path-length Herriot gas cell and waterless optical components was proposed and investigated. The main function of this sensor was to simultaneously improve the measurement reliability and resolution. A comparison test between a 10-cm normal transmission-type gas cell and a 3-m Herriot gas cell was carried out to demonstrate the improvement. Reliability improvement was achieved by influence suppression of water vapor inside optical components (WVOC) through combined action of the Herriot gas cell and waterless optical components. The influence of WVOC was suppressed from 726 ppmv to 25 ppmv using the Herriot gas cell. Moreover, combined with waterless optical components, the influence of WVOC was further suppressed to no more than 4 ppmv. Resolution improvement from 11.7 ppmv to 0.32 ppmv was achieved mainly due to the application of the long-path-length Herriot gas cell. The results show that the proposed sensor has a good performance and considerable potential application in gas sensing, especially when probed gas possibly permeates into optical components.