PNNL

Abstract

Optical feedback to the laser source in tunable diode laser spectroscopy (TDLS) is known to create intensity modulation noise due to elatoning and optical feedback (i.e., multiplicative technical noise) that usually limits spectral signal-to-noise (S/N). The large technical noise often limits absorption spectroscopy to noise floors 100-fold greater than the Poisson shot noise limit due to fluctuations in the laser intensity. The high output powers generated from quantum cascade (QC) lasers, along with their high gain, makes these injection laser systems especially susceptible to technical noise. In this article we discuss a method of using optimal filtering to reduce technical noise. We have observed S/N enhancements ranging from ~20% to a factor of ~50. The degree to which optimal filtering will enhance S/N depends on the similarity between the Fourier components of the technical noise and those of the signal, with lower S/N enhancements observed for more similar Fourier decompositions of the signal and technical noise. We also examine the linearity of optimal filtered spectra for both time and intensity. This was accomplished by creating a synthetic spectrum for the species being studied (CH4, N2O, CO2, H2O in ambient air) utilizing line-positions and line-widths with an assumed Voight-profile from a previous database (HITRAN). Agreement better than 0.036% in wavenumber, and 1.64% in intensity (up to a 260-fold intensity ratio employed), was observed. Our results suggest that rapid ex post facto digital optimal filtering can be used to enhance S/N for routine trace gas detection.