Abstract

In this Letter, two novel, to the best of our knowledge, quartz tuning forks (QTFs) with trapezoidal-head and round-head were designed and adopted for quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (QEPAS) sensing. Based on finite element analysis, a theoretical simulation model was established to optimize the design of QTF. For performance comparison, a reported T-head QTF and a commercial QTF were also investigated. The designed QTFs have decreased resonant frequency (f₀) and increased gap between the two prongs of QTF. The experimentally determined f₀ of the T-head QTF, trapezoidal-head QTF, and round-head QTF were 8690.69 Hz, 9471.67 Hz, and 9499.28 Hz, respectively. The corresponding quality (Q) factors were measured as 11,142, 11,411, and 11,874. Compared to the commercial QTF, the resonance frequencies of these QTFs have reduced by 73.45%, 71.07%, and 70.99% while maintaining a comparable Q factor to the commercially mature QTF. Methane (CH₄) was chosen as the analyte to verify the QTFs’ performance. Compared with the commercial QTF, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the CH₄–QEPAS system based on the T-head QTF, trapezoidal-head QTF, and round-head QTF has been improved by 1.75 times, 2.96 times, and 3.26 times, respectively. The performance of the CH₄–QEPAS sensor based on the QTF with the best performance of the round-head QTF was investigated in detail. The results indicated that the CH₄–QEPAS sensor based on the round-head QTF exhibited an excellent linear concentration response. Furthermore, a minimum detection limit (MDL) of 0.87 ppm can be achieved when the system’s average time was 1200 s.

© 2024 Optica Publishing Group

Clamp-type quartz tuning fork enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy

Qian Wu, Haohua Lv, Leqing Lin, Hongpeng Wu, Marilena Giglio, Wenguo Zhu, Yongchun Zhong, Angelo Sampaolo, Pietro Patimisco, Lei Dong, Vincenzo Spagnolo, Jianhui Yu, and Huadan Zheng
Opt. Lett. 47(17) 4556-4559 (2022)

Quartz tuning fork embedded off-beam quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy

Lien Hu, Chuantao Zheng, Jie Zheng, Yiding Wang, and Frank K. Tittel
Opt. Lett. 44(10) 2562-2565 (2019)

Octupole electrode pattern for tuning forks vibrating at the first overtone mode in quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy

Pietro Patimisco, Angelo Sampaolo, Marilena Giglio, Verena Mackowiak, Hubert Rossmadl, Bruno Gross, Alex Cable, Frank K. Tittel, and Vincenzo Spagnolo
Opt. Lett. 43(8) 1854-1857 (2018)

Tuning forks with optimized geometries for quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy

Pietro Patimisco, Angelo Sampaolo, Marilena Giglio, Stefano dello Russo, Verena Mackowiak, Hubert Rossmadl, Alex Cable, Frank K. Tittel, and Vincenzo Spagnolo
Opt. Express 27(2) 1401-1415 (2019)

Piezo-enhanced acoustic detection module for mid-infrared trace gas sensing using a grooved quartz tuning fork

Shangzhi Li, Hongpeng Wu, Ruyue Cui, Angelo Sampaolo, Pietro Patimisco, Vincenzo Spagnolo, Frank K. Tittel, and Lei Dong
Opt. Express 27(24) 35267-35278 (2019)