Absorption Spectroscopy

Absorption Spectroscopy is one of the oldest techniques for the non-intrusive investigation of gaseous media. This technique is based on the absorption of radiation emitted by a spectrally well defined light source along its way to the detector.
The loss of light intensity is a measure for the absorbing gas concentration. The more gas molecules in the light path, the more light will be absorbed. LaVision’s absorption based sensors measure precisely the drop of light intensity and calculates the molecule’s concentration from this value. The absorption of light is specific for the probed molecule and the wavelength of the light. The choice of the wavelength determines on the type of detected molecule.

There are basically two different absorption techniques: broadband absorption and tunable laser absorption spectroscopy.
Broadband absorption is used for the concentration measurement of functional groups of molecules like for the total hydrocarbon (fuel) concentration measurement inside an engine cylinder. The achievable sampling rates can be much higher compared to conventional gas analysis systems.
Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (TDLAS) is very sensitive and selective for the detection of smaller molecules such as H₂O, O₂ or CO₂. This technique measures the concentration of the molecules, but also the temperature and/or the total ambient pressure of the bath gas using sophisticated spectral analysis. Due to the extremely high selectivity of this technique, a TDLAS sensor could even measure under harsh experimental conditions like through powder coated molded glass containers or particle-laden flames.