Multi-harmonic detection in wavelength modulation spectroscopy systems

摘要

Two multi-harmonic detection methods for wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) systems are presented and compared. The two possibilities discussed in this paper are: simultaneous curve fitting of multiple harmonic spectra, and reconstruction of the transmission from harmonic coefficients. The optimum number of harmonics is four and 25 harmonics, respectively. Compared with standard single-harmonic curve fitting, the methods give about a factor of 3 better performance than standard second-harmonic curve fitting. Concluding, multi-harmonic detection is better than single-harmonic detection and should be used if the system bandwidth is high enough to allow for proper detection of the higher harmonics.