Acta Photonica Sinica, Volume. 52, Issue 3, 0352108(2023)

Stable Gaseous Isotope Measurement Method Based on Highly Sensitive Laser Absorption Spectroscopy and Its Applications(Invited)

Zhirong ZHANG1,2,3,4, Hua XIA1、*, Pengshuai SUN1, Runqing YU1,3, Xi YANG1,3, Yuqing LIN1, Bian WU1, Tao PANG1, Qiang GUO1, Zhe LI5, Xu LIU6, Yongjun CAI7, Markus W SIGRIST8, Brain CALSHAW9, and Chimin SHU10
Author Affiliations
  • 1Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory of Photonic Devices and Materials, Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, HFIPS, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, China
  • 2Key Laboratory of Environmental Optics and Technology, Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, HFIPS, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, China
  • 3School of Environment Science and Optoelectronic Technology, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
  • 4Advanced Laser Technology Laboratory of Anhui Province, National University of Defense Technology, Hefei 230026,China
  • 5College of Physics and Materials Engineering, Hefei Normal University, Hefei 230601, China
  • 6School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Bengbu University, Bengbu 233030, China
  • 7PipeChina General Academy of Science & Technology, Langfang 065000, China
  • 8Institute for Quantum Electronics, ETH Zurich, Zurich CH-8093, Switzerland
  • 9Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G11XW, United Kingdom
  • 10Graduate School of Engineering Science and Technology, Yunlin University of Science and Technology,Yunlin64002, China
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    Stable isotope technology has been widely used in geochemistry, geophysics, agriculture, biology, clinical medicine and ecological environment science. It is very important for the study of atmosphere, soil, water quality and health to realize the accurate measurement of gas isotope abundance. At present, isotope abundance is measured and analyzed mostly by Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometers. It is a relatively large, expensive and complex pre-processing, which is not conducive to real-time measurement of isotope abundance in the field. With the development of laser technology, the output wavelength can cover more and more wide bands, and the performance is more better. Many kinds of gases can be detected by laser absorption spectroscopy, and the detection sensitivity is further improved. This makes it possible to measure isotopic gases, which have attracted more and more attention and become one of the hot spots of laser spectroscopy. Compared with the traditional stable isotope analysis instruments, the isotope analysis technology based on laser absorption spectroscopy, as a relatively new isotope abundance measurement method, has the advantages of high selectivity, high accuracy, small volume, real-time online monitoring concentration and abundance, etc. So, the gas isotope analysis system based on laser absorption spectroscopy technology has important application value in environmental monitoring, ecosystem research, pollution tracing and tracing because of its miniaturization, fast response and real-time online measurement. Taking Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (TDLAS), Integrated Cavity Absorption Spectroscopy (ICOS) and Cavity Ring-Down Absorption spectroscopy (CRDS) as examples, the basic principle, spectrum line selection, system structure and some test results are described in this paper. Under the control of the PID system of temperature and pressure, the temperature control error is 0.003 ℃, and the pressure control error is 0.03mbar, which can meet the requirements of temperature and pressure control during the measurement of isotope gas. The 13C measurement accuracy of atmospheric CO2 is 0.3‰, the 13CH4 measurement accuracy of coalbed methane is 1.25‰, the 18O, 17O and D measurement accuracy of glacial H2O are 0.3‰, 0.2‰ and 0.5‰, respectively. And also, the “gold standard” for 13CO2 of detecting helicobacter pylori infection is also introduced. The feasibility and reliability of laser absorption spectroscopy in isotope measurement are verified. And it is also fully demonstrated that the measurement method based on laser absorption spectroscopy has a very good technical advantage. TDLAS, ICOS and CRDS have become the best choice for the high-sensitivity detection of trace gases and isotope gases. The three technologies have their characteristics: TDLAS technology has the simplest structure, but its cavity volume is large and requires the largest gas samples. The system structure of ICOS technology is relatively simple, but the technology is based on absorption intensity measurement technology, limited by laser intensity noise and frequency drift, which is also a major problem in applying ICOS technology in high sensitivity detection. Therefore, the signal-to-noise ratio and measurement accuracy of ICOS technology is slightly lower than that of CRDS technology. The structure of CRDS technology is relatively complex, and the conditions are relatively harsh, but it can achieve the absorption optical path that the above two technologies cannot reach, so it has the best sensitivity and measurement limits. Based on the above advantages and practical feasibility, laser absorption spectral isotope analysis system will be more and more applied to various fields. And the related system research still has a long way to go. At the same time, laser absorption spectroscopy is also faced with many shortcomings, such as: in these measurements, it is also necessary to consider the error sources such as the concentration dependence of the instrument and the time drift. A certain correction frequency should be set for periodic correction to eliminate the influence of the instrument drift, and the measurement results with accuracy and accuracy meeting the research needs should be obtained through appropriate correction strategies.

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    Zhirong ZHANG, Hua XIA, Pengshuai SUN, Runqing YU, Xi YANG, Yuqing LIN, Bian WU, Tao PANG, Qiang GUO, Zhe LI, Xu LIU, Yongjun CAI, Markus W SIGRIST, Brain CALSHAW, Chimin SHU. Stable Gaseous Isotope Measurement Method Based on Highly Sensitive Laser Absorption Spectroscopy and Its Applications(Invited)[J]. Acta Photonica Sinica, 2023, 52(3): 0352108

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    Paper Information

    Category: Special Issue for Frontiers and Techniques of Laser Spectroscopy

    Received: Oct. 18, 2022

    Accepted: Dec. 28, 2022

    Published Online: Jun. 21, 2023

    The Author Email: XIA Hua (huaxia@aiofm.ac.cn)

    DOI:10.3788/gzxb20235203.0352108

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