We have proposed a sensor for real-time and online measurement of dew/frost point temperature using tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) technique. Initial experiments have demonstrated its feasibility and technical advantages in comparison to a chilled mirror hygrometer (CMH). The TDLAS sensor we developed has a dew/frost point temperature range from −93 °C to + 14.5 °C, with a measurement uncertainly of less than 2%, and a response time of about 0.8 s, which is much faster than that of the chilled mirror hygrometer (ranging from several minutes to several hours). A TDLAS-based dew/frost point sensor has many advantages, such as rapid and continuous measurements, low frost point temperature sensing, high accuracy, and non-intrusiveness. Such a sensor would be useful for dew/frost point temperature determinations in various applications. In a cryogenic wind tunnel, real-time dew/frost point temperature measurements are helpful in preventing the formation of condensed liquid and ice, which can affect the model geometry and lead to unreliable test data.

A novel, to the best of our knowledge, performance-enhanced laser heterodyne radiometer has been developed by utilizing a semiconductor optical amplifier to amplify the collected weak solar radiation in an optical fiber. High-spectral-resolution measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide column absorption are used to validate the technique and performance of the developed instrument. The implementation of optical amplification led to a 9-times improvement in sensitivity according to the Allan variance analysis for noise fluctuations, and resulted in a 7.7-times enhancement in measurement precision for atmospheric carbon dioxide. The promising results showed the great potential of employing this type of compact fiber-optics-based spectral radiometer for applications such as atmospheric greenhouse gas sensing.

We report the development of a laser gas analyzer that measures gas concentrations at a data rate of 100 Hz. This fast data rate helps eddy covariance calculations for gas fluxes in turbulent high wind speed environments. The laser gas analyzer is based on derivative laser absorption spectroscopy and set for measurements of water vapor (H₂O, at wavelength ~1392 nm) and carbon dioxide (CO₂, at ~2004 nm). This instrument, in combination with an ultrasonic anemometer, has been tested experimentally in both marine and terrestrial environments. First, we compared the accuracy of results between the laser gas analyzer and a high-quality commercial instrument with a max data rate of 20 Hz. We then analyzed and compared the correlation of H₂O flux results at data rates of 100 Hz and 20 Hz in both high and low wind speeds to verify the contribution of high frequency components. The measurement results show that the contribution of 100 Hz data rate to flux calculations is about 11% compared to that measured with 20 Hz data rate, in an environment with wind speed of ~10 m/s. Therefore, it shows that the laser gas analyzer with high detection frequency is more suitable for measurements in high wind speed environments.

To achieve multi-gas measurements of quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (QEPAS) sensors under a frequency-division multiplexing mode with a narrow modulation frequency interval, we report a frequency-domain detection method. A CH₄ absorption line at 1653.72 nm and a CO₂ absorption line at 2004.02 nm were investigated in this experiment. A modulation frequency interval of as narrow as 0.6 Hz for CH₄ and CO₂ detection was achieved. Frequency-domain 2f signals were obtained with a resolution of 0.125 Hz using a real-time frequency analyzer. With the multiple linear regressions of the frequency-domain 2f signals of various gas mixtures, small deviations within 2.5% and good linear relationships for gas detection were observed under the frequency-division multiplexing mode. Detection limits of 0.6 ppm for CH₄ and 2.9 ppm for CO₂ were simultaneously obtained. With the 0.6-Hz interval, the amplitudes of QEPAS signals will increase substantially since the modulation frequencies are closer to the resonant frequency of a QTF. Furthermore, the frequency-domain detection method with a narrow interval can realize precise gas measurements of more species with more lasers operating under the frequency-division multiplexing mode. Additionally, this method, with a narrow interval of modulation frequencies, can also realize frequency-division multiplexing detection for QEPAS sensors under low pressure despite the ultra-narrow bandwidth of the QTF.

Accurate and reliable spectral line parameters of gas are very important for measuring gas concentration and temperature.The mainstream spectrum database (e.g.HITRAN) includes the values from theoretical computation based on different models,which have some inevitable deviations from the corresponding actual values.To address this problem,we develop a low-temperature spectral experimental platform for simulating low temperature and low pressure environment so as to accurately measure gas absorption spectral parameters.The spectral experimental platform uses the static cooling technology combined with the Dewar insulation system to maintain the quartz cell at a constant temperature.Through adjusting the electric heating and liquid helium refrigeration,we can achieve temperature change and stability.Temperature of the low temperature absorption cell can be adjusted in a range of 100-350 K with a precision lower than 0.3 K and the temperature gradient in the cell is lower than 0.01 K/cm.The length of quartz cell is 100 cm,and a reflector can be used to increase optical path for absorption.The window diameter is 76 mm,and the spectral resolution is better than 0.001 cm-1.We use a tunable diode laser spectrometer to measure absorption spectra of pure water vapor with the platform at different temperatures (230-340 K) and different pressures (10-1000 Pa).Voigt profile is the leastsquares fit to the measured spectra by using a multi-spectrum fitting routine.A filter is used to reduce electronic noise of detector signal.As spectral lines in the band of 7240-7246 cm-1 are often used in low temperature wind tunnel flow field measurements,a distributed feedback (DFB) diode laser with a wavelength of 1381 nm is used in the experiment, and five water vapor lines are selected and measured.Firstly,from the linear fitting of line area and the full width at half maximum of collisional broadening (or pressure broadening) we obtain line strengths and self-broadening half-width coefficients at different temperatures.Secondly,from nonlinear fitting of line strengths and self-broadening half-width coefficients at different temperatures we obtain the values of line strengths and self-broadening half-width coefficients at the reference temperature (296 K).In the end,comparison between our experimental results and HITRAN2012 database values shows that the maximum discrepancy between the HITRAN database and the experimental result is 10.96%.A transparent uncertainty analysis is given for the measurement values.Uncertainties of our measured line strengths are in a 1.11%-2.98% range (95% confidence level,k=2),which is smaller than those of HITRAN2012 database values (uncertainties are in a range of 5%-10%).The accurate spectral parameters are obtained experimentally,and of great significance for improving the spectrum measurement accuracy of water vapor in low temperature environment in the future.