Light source effects on aerosol photoacoustic spectroscopy measurements

- Choice of source laser can impact aerosol photoacoustic spectroscopy measurements.
- Measurements performed on soot coated with up to a monolayer of water.
- No extinction enhancement observed by a cavity ring-down spectrometer.
- Absorption enhancement (photoacoustic response) was laser and coating thickness dependent.
- Quasi-continuous wave laser yielded larger enhancements than a continuous wave laser.

Photoacoustic spectroscopy measurements of flame-generated soot aerosol coated with small amounts of water yielded absorption enhancements that were dependent on the laser used: quasi-continuous wave (Q-CW, ≈650 ps pulse duration and 78 MHz repetition rate) versus continuous wave (CW). Water coating thickness was controlled by exposing the aerosol to a set relative humidity (RH). At ≈85% RH, the mass of the soot particles increased by an amount comparable to a monolayer of water being deposited and enhanced the measured absorption by 36% and 15% for the Q-CW and CW lasers, respectively. Extinction measurements were also performed using a cavity ring-down spectrometer (extinction equals the sum of absorption and scattering) with a CW laser and negligible enhancement was observed at all RH. These findings demonstrate that source choice can impact measurements of aerosols with volatile coatings and that the absorption enhancements at high RH previously measured by Radney and Zangmeister [1] are the result of laser source used (Q-CW) and not from an increase in the particle absorption cross section.