Improved sensitivity gas detection by spontaneous Raman scattering.

Accurate, real-time measurement of the dilute constituents of a gaseous mixture poses a significant challenge usually relegated to mass spectrometry. Here, spontaneous Raman backscattering is used to detect low pressure molecular gases. Rapid detection of gases in the approximately 100 parts in 10(6) (ppm) range is described. Improved sensitivity is brought about by use of a hollow-core, photonic bandgap fiber gas cell in the backscattering configuration to increase collection efficiency and an image-plane aperture to greatly reduce silica-Raman background noise. Spatial and spectral properties of the silica noise were examined with a two-dimensional CCD detector array.