Terahertz Spectroscopic Molecular Sensor for Rapid and Highly Specific Quantitative Analytical Gas Sensing

Quantitative analytical gas sampling is of great importance in a range of environmental, safety, and scientific applications. In this article, we present the design, operation, and performance of a recently developed tabletop terahertz (THz) spectroscopic molecular sensor capable of rapid (minutes) and sensitive detection of polar gaseous analytes with near "absolute" specificity. A novel double-coil absorption cell design and an array of room-temperature sorbent-based preconcentration modules facilitate quantitative THz detection of light polar volatile compounds, which often challenge the capabilities of established gas sensing techniques. Acetone, ethanol, methanol, acetaldehyde, formaldehyde, and isoprene are detected at low parts-per-billion to high parts-per-trillion levels. This work evaluates performance-limiting factors for THz spectroscopy-based chemical identification: (1) spectral signal to noise and (2) preconcentrator efficiency.