A Compact Terahertz Trace Gas Detector

Project Information

TeraTrace

Grant agreement ID: 713713

DOI

10.3030/713713

Project closed

EC signature date 29 June 2016

Start date 1 December 2016

End date 31 May 2018

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 150 000,00

EU contribution

€ 150 000,00

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITAET INNSBRUCK
Austria

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TeraTrace (A Compact Terahertz Trace Gas Detector)

Reporting period: 2016-12-01 to 2018-05-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

In this project a trace gas detection system has been developed and constructed, which was based on direct molecular absorption in the terahertz regime. To strongly enhance the absorption signal the gas was enclosed in a spherical cavity. Specifically, we have achieved to enhance the optical path length inside the cavity by a factor of more than hundred. The factors limiting this enhancement have been investigated and attributed mainly to the structure of the terahertz modes in the cavity. In the course of the project the enhanced path length did not lead to the targeted range of the trace gas sensitivity, which can be rationalized by the structure of the excited cavity modes. The use of this characteristic structure as a diagnostics tool of the radiation is envisioned.