Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 16, 2026

Thermal Measurement Techniques in Analytical Microfluidic Devices
Published on: June 3, 2015
Performance of a photothermal detector with turbid liquids
Jane Hodgkinson1, Mark Johnson, John P Dakin
1North West Water Limited, Dawson House, Warrington WA3 3LW, UK. j.hodgkinson@cranfield.ac.uk
Abstract:
A closed-cell photothermal detector for aqueous analytes has been evaluated at 254 and 678 nm. We used a detector with a water meniscus as a pressure sensor, whose periodic deflection was measured using a low-finesse optical fiber Fabry-Perot interferometer. Performance was compared with a commercial diode array spectrometer and found to be similar for absorption measurements in nonturbid samples, but the results were affected up to 60 times less by scattered light. Finally the photothermal cell was converted into an integrating cavity using ceramic inserts, showing freedom from scattering-related errors at 678 nm but a degradation in performance at 254 nm.
Related Concept Videos
Gas Chromatography: Types of Detectors-I
TCD is the earliest and most widely used detector that operates by measuring the changes in the thermal conductivity of the carrier gas. When a sample compound enters the detector,...
High-Performance Liquid Chromatography: Types of Detectors
Photoluminescence: Applications
UV–Vis Spectrometers
Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence Microscopy

