Characterization of a derivative photoacoustic spectrometer

A design of derivative photoacoustic spectrometer is presented in this article. It mainly includes a wavelength-intensity splitter and a complementary chopper. In our design, a dual wavelength derivative method is introduced to implement a derivative operation. Through the wavelength-intensity splitter, two beams are obtained and then complementarily modulated by the complementary chopper to satisfy the first derivative requirements as well as to achieve the differential of photoacoustic signals. As examples, the first derivative photoacoustic spectra of He-Ne laser and xenon lamp are also presented in this article. The results show that the first derivative photoacoustic spectrum can provide a superior fine spectral structure and spectral resolution compared to the photoacoustic absorption spectrum.