Polymer-coated quartz tuning fork for enhancing the sensitivity of laser-induced thermoelastic spectroscopy

A novel laser-induced thermoelastic spectroscopy (LITES) sensor based on a polymer-coated quartz tuning fork (QTF) is reported. Two types of polymer films with different thicknesses are deposited on commercially available QTF to improve the conversion efficiency of laser energy deposition into vibration. CO₂ was selected as the target analyte for validation measurements. The experimental results indicate that by introducing a polymer coating, a maximum gain factor of 3.46 and 3.21 is attained for the signal amplitude and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), respectively, when compared to traditional LITES that using only a bare QTF. A minimum detectable concentration of 0.181% can be obtained, corresponding to a normalized noise equivalent absorption coefficient (NNEA) of 1.74×10^-11 cm^-1·W·Hz^-1/2, and the measurement precision is approximately 0.06% with an averaging time of 200 s. Here, we show what we believe is the first demonstration of polymer coated QTF for LITES sensing, compared with custom QTF, the design has the virtues of lower cost, simple and easy-to-operate, is a promising new strategy for sensitive trace gas analysis.