Trace photoacoustic SO2 gas sensor in SF6 utilizing a 266 nm UV laser and an acousto-optic power stabilizer.

A sulfur dioxide (SO2) gas sensor based on the photoacoustic spectroscopy technology in a sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) gas matrix was demonstrated for SF6 decomposition components monitoring in the power system. A passive Q-switching laser diode (LD) pumped all-solid-state 266 nm deep-ultraviolet laser was exploited as the laser excitation source. The photoacoustic signal amplitude is linear related to the incident optical power, whereas, a random laser power jitter is inevitable since the immature laser manufacturing technology in UV spectral region. A compact laser power stabilization system was developed for better sensor performance by adopting a photodetector, a custom-made internal closed-loop feedback controller and a Bragg acousto-optic modulator (AOM). The out-power stability of 0.04% was achieved even though the original power stability was 0.41% for ∼ 2 hours. A differential two-resonator photoacoustic cell (PAC) was designed for weak photoacoustic signal detection. The special physical constants of SF6 buffer gas induced a high-Q factor of 85. A detection limit of 140 ppbv was obtained after the optimization, which corresponds to a normalized noise equivalent absorption coefficient of 3.2 × 10-9 cm-1WHz-1/2.