Cavity enhancement methods, systems and devices, and methods of measuring same
AssigneeBoard of Regents, The University of Texas System
InventorPurnendu K. Dasgupta
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system for increasing light throughput in cavity enhanced spectrometry, and a model for cavity enhanced absorption measurements are presented. The cavity has an entrance mirror, an opposed exit mirror and a detector positioned adjacent the exit mirror. An input aperture is defined in the entrance minor to allow light from a source to enter the cavity. The input aperture improves light throughput without significant departure from the theoretically predicted amplification of absorbance. This results in improvement of detection limits, even with mirrors of modest reflectivity and inexpensive detectors.
Claims21
A measurement cell for absorbance measurements of a medium positioned in a cavity of the cell comprising;
- an entrance minor forming at least a portion of a first wall of the cell, wherein an input aperture is defined in a portion of the entrance minor;
- an exit mirror forming at least a portion of a second wall of the cell that is opposed to the first wall;
- a light source configured to input a beam of light into the cavity of the cell through the input aperture;
- and
- a detector positioned outside of the cell adjacent to the exit mirror configured to convert light detected exiting the cell through the exit minor into an electrical signal for further analysis by a processor.
A method of improving light throughput in absorption spectrometry comprising:
- providing a measurement cell for absorbance measurements of a medium positioned in a cavity of the cell comprising;
- an entrance minor forming at least a portion of a first wall of the cell;
- an exit mirror forming at least a portion of a second wall of the cell that is opposed to the first wall;
- a light source;
- and
- a detector positioned outside of the cell adjacent to the exit mirror configured to convert light detected exiting the cell through the exit minor into an electrical signal for further analysis by a processor;
- defining an input aperture in a portion of the entrance mirror;
- and
- inputting a divergent beam of light into the cavity of the cell through the input aperture.
A method of increasing the detection sensitivity of absorption spectroscopy comprising:
- providing a measurement cell for absorbance measurements of a medium positioned in a cavity of the cell comprising;
- an entrance minor forming at least a portion of a first wall of the cell;
- an exit mirror forming at least a portion of a second wall of the cell that is opposed to the first wall;
- a light source;
- and
- a detector positioned outside of the cell adjacent to the exit mirror configured to convert light detected exiting the cell through the exit minor into an electrical signal for further analysis by a processor;
- defining an input aperture in a portion of the entrance mirror;
- and
- inputting a divergent beam of light from the light source into the cavity of the cell through the input aperture.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.