English

Mid-infrared VIPA Spectrometer for Rapid and Broadband Trace Gas Detection

Optics 2015-06-05 v1

Abstract

We present and characterize a 2-D imaging spectrometer based on a virtually-imaged phased array (VIPA) disperser for rapid, high-resolution molecular detection using mid-infrared (MIR) frequency combs at 3.1 and 3.8 \mu m. We demonstrate detection of CH4 at 3.1 \mu m with >3750 resolution elements spanning >80 nm with ~600 MHz resolution in a <10 \mu s acquisition time. In addition to broadband detection, rapid, time-resolved single-image detection is demonstrated by capturing dynamic concentration changes of CH4 at a rate of ~375 frames per second. Changes in absorption above the noise floor of 5\times 10-4 are readily detected on the millisecond time scale, leading to important future applications such as real time monitoring of trace gas concentrations and detection of reactive intermediates.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1206.1316,
  title  = {Mid-infrared VIPA Spectrometer for Rapid and Broadband Trace Gas Detection},
  author = {Lora Nugent-Glandorf and Tyler Neely and Florian Adler and Adam J. Fleisher and Kevin C. Cossel and Bryce Bjork and Tim Dinneen and Jun Ye and Scott A. Diddams},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1206.1316},
  year   = {2015}
}