Helmholtz resonance | EPFL Graph Search

Helmholtz resonance or wind throb is the phenomenon of air resonance in a cavity, such as when one blows across the top of an empty bottle. The name comes from a device created in the 1850s by Hermann von Helmholtz, the Helmholtz resonator, which he used to identify the various frequencies or musical pitches present in music and other complex sounds. History Helmholtz described in his 1862 book On the Sensations of Tone an apparatus able to pick out specific frequencies from a complex sound. The Helmholtz resonator, as it is now called, consists of a rigid container of a known volume, nearly spherical in shape, with a small neck and hole in one end and a larger hole in the other end to emit the sound. When the resonator's 'nipple' is placed inside one's ear, a specific frequency of the complex sound can be picked out and heard clearly. In his book Helmholtz explains: When we "apply a resonator to the ear, most of the tones produced in the surrounding air will be consider

Gas traces measurement by photoacoustic spectroscopy using Helmholtz resonator-based sensors

Mario Mattiello

Photoacoustic spectroscopy is a well-established gas traces optical detection technique, which consists in the generation of an acoustic wave in the investigated gas compound excited by a modulated laser beam, and in the detection of this sound wave with a sensitive microphone. The sensitivity of this technique can be greatly enhanced through the use of acoustic resonators. A wide range of resonant configurations has been developed and reported in the literature in the last decades. Among these, Helmholtz resonators are known for their simplicity of implementation, though with a reduced efficiency. The main goal of this work is to demonstrate that Helmholtz resonators can be successfully applied to photoacoustic spectroscopy, delivering sensitivities in the same order of magnitude as other more common configurations, as well as offering a powerful tool to perform differential measurements. Two Helmholtz-based sensors are presented within this thesis. The first sensor has been developed for ammonia sensing, taking benefit from the properties of antimonide-based lasers; the final design has been the result of a carefully optimised compromise between high sensitivity, noise reduction, technical constraints, compact size and straightforward use. After several implemented improvements, an ultimate sub-ppm concentration detection limit has been achieved. The second sensor exploits the intrinsic phase shift existing between the two volumes of a Helmholtz resonator to perform differential measurements. Each of the two volumes of the resonator is filled with a different concentration of the same gas, whereas the exciting laser beam is split in two arms that separately illuminate the volumes, the resulting photoacoustic signal being proportional to the difference between the respective concentrations of the probed gas in the volumes. A particular detection scheme has been implemented to guarantee a linear measurement. The achieved sensitivity is not as high as obtained with the first sensor; nonetheless, the developed sensor offers the possibility to perform measurements that would otherwise require two different sensing devices, resulting in a clear gain in terms of cost and of detection complexity.

EPFL2008

Reduced material loss in thin-film lithium niobate waveguides

Mikhail Churaev, Guanhao Huang, Tobias Kippenberg, Zihan Li, Di Zhu

Thin-film lithium niobate has shown promise for scalable applications ranging from single-photon sources to high-bandwidth data communication systems. Realization of the next generation high-performance classical and quantum devices, however, requires much lower optical losses than the current state of the art resonator (Q-factor of similar to 10 x 10(6)million). Yet the material limitations of ion-sliced thin film lithium niobate have not been explored; therefore, it is unclear how high the quality factor can be achieved in this platform. Here, using our newly developed characterization method, we find out that the material limited quality factor of thin film lithium niobate photonic platform can be improved using post-fabrication annealing and can be as high as Q approximate to 1.6 x 10(8) at telecommunication wavelengths, corresponding to a propagation loss of 0.2 dB/m. (C) 2022 Author(s).

AIP Publishing2022

Novel Helmholtz-based photoacoustic sensor for trace gas detection at ppm level using GaInAsSb/GaAlAsSb DFB lasers

Mario Mattiello, Luc Thévenaz

A new and compact photoacoustic sensor for trace gas detection in the 2-2.5 μm atmospheric window is reported. Both the development of antimonide-based DFB lasers with singlemode emission in this spectral range and a novel design of photoacoustic cell adapted to the characteristics of these lasers are discussed. The laser fabrication was made in two steps. The structure was firstly grown by molecular beam epitaxy then a metallic DFB grating was processed. The photoacoustic cell is based on a Helmholtz resonator that was designed in order to fully benefit from the highly divergent emission of the antimonide laser. An optimized modulation scheme based on wavelength modulation of the laser source combined with second harmonic detection has been implemented for efficient suppression of wall noise. Using a 2211 nm laser, sub-ppm detection limit has been demonstrated for ammonia. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All right reserved.

Elsevier2006

Gas traces measurement by photoacoustic spectroscopy using Helmholtz resonator-based sensors

Mario Mattiello

EPFL2008