Terahertz quartz enhanced photo-acoustic sensor

Year: 2013

Authors: Borri S., Patimisco P., Sampaolo A., Beere H. E., Ritchie D. A., Vitiello M. S., Scamarcio G., Spagnolo V.

Autors Affiliation: IFN-CNR UOS Bari, via Amendola 173, 70126 Bari, Italy; Dipartimento Interateneo di Fisica, Università e Politecnico di Bari, Via Amendola 173, 70126 Bari, Italy; Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, J. J. Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE,United Kingdom; NEST, CNR – Istituto Nanoscienze and Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza San Silvestro 12, 56127 Pisa, Italy

Abstract: A quartz enhanced photo-acoustic sensor employing a single-mode quantum cascade laser emitting at 3.93 Terahertz (THz) is reported. A custom tuning fork with a 1 mm spatial separation between the prongs allows the focusing of the THz laser beam between them, while preventing the prongs illumination. A methanol transition with line-strength of 4.28 x 10(-21) cm has been selected as target spectroscopic line. At a laser optical power of similar to 40 mu W, we reach a sensitivity of 7 parts per million in 4s integration time, corresponding to a 1 sigma normalized noise-equivalent absorption of 2 x 10(-10) cm(-1) W/Hz(1/2). (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.

Journal/Review: APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS

Volume: 103 (2)      Pages from: 021105  to: 021105

More Information: The authors acknowledge financial support from the Italian national projects: PON01_02238 and PON02_00675. We thank A. Tredicucci for fruitful interactions, F. Tittel for helpful discussions, A. Kachanov for providing the 4.25 kHz quartz tuning fork, and P. P. Calabrese for realizing the fork housing. M.S.V. acknowledges financial support of the Italian Ministry of Education, University, and Research (MIUR) through the program \”FIRB-Futuro in Ricerca 2010\” RBFR10LULP \”Fundamental research on terahertz photonic devices\”
KeyWords: Integration time; Optical power; Parts per millions; Quantum cascades; Single mode; Spatial separation; Terahertz; Tuning forks, Quantum cascade lasers; Quartz, Acoustic devices
DOI: 10.1063/1.4812438

Citations: 106
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