The invention provides a differential photoacoustic gas
sensing system and method based on cross-correlation
demodulation, and is suitable for the fields of
trace gas monitoring, industrial process fine control and environment detection. The
system comprises a gas excitation
light source, a symmetrical double-probe gas sensor, an
optical fiber circulator, a wide-
spectrum light source, a 1 * 2
optical fiber coupler, two pieces of plain glass, a photoelectric detection array and a computer,
acoustic wave signals excited by the
photoacoustic effect generate difference superposition cavity length changes on the symmetrically-arranged double
cantilever beams, and environment
noise triggers cavity length responses which are counteracted in the same direction. The
system adopts an optical cross-correlation
demodulation algorithm to track peak displacement of a cross-
correlation function in real time, dynamically demodulates cavity
length change information, and inverts the
gas concentration according to the information. According to the design scheme, effective photoacoustic signals are remarkably enhanced, meanwhile, effective suppression of environment vibration
noise is achieved, and finally the
trace gas detection
system integrating the advantages of
miniaturization, high sensitivity and low cost is constructed.