Consideration of Temperature and Slip Correction for Photothermal Spectrometry

Abstract

Temperature was considered to estimate the minimum detectable absorption coefficient of aerosol particles from photothermal spectroscopy. Light energy absorbed by subsequent emission from the aerosol results in the heating of the aerosol sample and consequently causes a temperature change as well as changes in thermodynamic parameters of the sample. This thermal effect is the basis of photothermal spectroscopy. Photothermal spectroscopy has several types of techniques depending on how the photothermal effects are detected. Photothermal interferometry traces the photothermal effect, refractive index, using an interferometer. Photoacoustic spectroscopy detects the photothermal effect, sound wave, using a microphone. In this study, it is suggested that the detection limit for photothermal spectroscopy can be influenced by the introduction of a slip correction factor when the light absorption is determined in a high temperature environment. The minimum detectable absorption coefficient depends on the density, the specific heat and the temperature, which are thermodynamic properties. Without considering the slip correction, when the temperature of the environment is 400 K, the minimum detectable absorption coefficient for photothermal interferometry increases approximately 0.3% compared to the case of 300 K. The minimum detectable absorption coefficient for photoacoustic spectroscopy decreases only 0.2% compared to the case of 300 K. Photothermal interferometry differs only 0.5% point from photoacoustic spectroscopy. Thus, it is believed that photothermal interferometry is reliably comparable to photoacoustic spectroscopy under 400 K.