Temperature effects in tuning fork enhanced interferometric photoacoustic spectroscopy

Temperature dependent measurements with a compact fiber coupled sensor for trace gas detection in the near-infrared based on tuning fork enhanced interferometric photoacoustic spectroscopy are presented. The temperature effects on the sensor have been investigated in a range from T = -41 °C to T = 107 °C, in particular the influence on the resonance frequency and the Q-factor of the micro tuning fork. The refined sensor head contains a combination of a silicon tuning fork and an acoustic off-beam resonator and permits methane detection with a detection limit of S = (3.85 ± 0.01) ppm. The functional capability of a numerical model for the optimization of acoustic off-beam resonators in COMSOL Multiphysics® is presented.