A near-infrared acetylene detection system based on a 1.534 μm tunable diode laser and a miniature gas chamber

•Near-infrared ppm-level C2H2 detection with 15 cm absorption length.•Self-developed DFB laser driver with similar characteristics to commercial ones.•Self-developed small size digital orthogonal lock-in amplifier.•Potential ability of being integrated with small size and low price.•Suitable for the in-suit detection of acetylene gas in industrial field.

A near-infrared (NIR) dual-channel differential acetylene (C2H2) detection system was experimentally demonstrated based on tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) technique and wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) technique. A distributed feedback (DFB) laser modulated by a self-developed driver around 1.534 μm is used as light source. A miniature gas chamber with 15 cm path length is adopted as absorption pool, and an orthogonal lock-in amplifier is developed to extract the second harmonic (2f) signal. Sufficient standard C2H2 samples with different concentrations were prepared, and detailed measurements were carried out to study the detection performance. A good linear relationship is observed between the amplitude of the 2f signal and C2H2 concentration within the range of 200–10,000 ppm, and the relative measurement error is less than 5% within the whole range. A long-term monitoring lasting for 20 h on a 1000 ppm C2H2 sample was carried out, and the maximum concentration fluctuation is less than 2%. Due to the capability of using long-distance and low-loss optical fiber, the gas-cell can be placed in the filed for remote monitoring, which enables the system to have good prospects in industrial field.