Abstract
As resonance fluorescence at atmospheric pressure can be limited by collisional quenching and elastic scattering, supersonic jet spectroscopy is applied in this study to improve sensitivity for the detection of atomic mercury (Hg) vapor. The supersonic jet was produced by flowing argon test gas saturated with Hg vapor through a nozzle into a vacuum. The experiment used laser radiation at 253.7 nm to interrogate the jet. A photomultiplier tube and a boxcar gated integrator were used to detect and quantify the Hg resonance fluorescence. Time gating facilitated the extraction of the fluorescence signal from the elastic scattering background. From time dependent fluorescence signal data, the natural fluorescence lifetime of Hg (3P1→1S0) has been estimated at 112±8 ns. Fluorescence linearities with laser power and sample concentration were observed. Enhanced detection sensitivity was achieved due to the reduced collisional quenching of the fluorescence in the expanding jet. A detection limit of 3 parts per billion (by volume) for a 3 s data integration was established for Hg in argon. This study has shown that resonance fluorescence in a supersonic jet is a viable analytical tool for detection of low levels of Hg vapor.
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