Master's Thesis Proposal

Ethan M. Collins 

(Prof. Adam Steinberg)

"Validation of Simulated 1f-Normalized 2f + 3f WMS Signals to Increase Temperature and Species Measurement SNR"

Thurs. Feb. 6

2:00 p.m.

Food Processing Technology Building Auditorium

Abstract:

This thesis provides a simulated model for 1f-normalized 2f + 3f signals to increase SNR in wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) applications. 1f-normalized signals in WMS are commonly used to eliminate measurement dependence on the optical-electrical gain and average laser intensity. Typically, even harmonics are chosen because their peaks are centered at the nominal wavenumber of the absorption feature, and the second harmonic (2f) of the WMS signal is most commonly selected because of its relatively high signal power. This work demonstrates the increase in SNR that is achieved by summing the second and third harmonics (2f + 3f) by providing a simulated model of the first, second, and third harmonics of the WMS signal. The simulation accounts for real tunable laser diode characteristics to account for signal asymmetry and nonlinear intensity modulations. Experimental data will be collected to compare SNR between 1f-normalized 2f and 1f-normalized 2f + 3f signals.

Committee:

Prof. Adam Steinberg
Prof. Shawn Wehe
Prof. Wenting Sun