Optical measurement of atmospheric carbon dioxide

Team members

Ta Na

Cao Yuan

Gao Yihan

Qi Kaiyi

Chen Yiming

Idea

Climate change has already become one of the most important challenges humanity faces. Carbon dioxide, the major greenhouse gas, is 'heating up' the Earth's atmosphere as they have an absorption peak in infrared wavelengths.

This project aims to build a portable and accurate carbon dioxide concentration measurement device.

Possible measurement mechanisms

1. Spectroscopy. Carbon dioxide has absorption peaks at 15, 4.3, 2.7 and 2 μm. With a laser/source of such wavelength and the correct filter, we could judge the concentration by absorption levels. See viasala for inspiration of a potential real-time reference design.
2. Interferometry. Carbon dioxide has a slightly different refraction index for all wavelengths. By observing the change in interference patterns, we can tell if there is a change in carbon dioxide concentration due to a change in effective path length.

Setup

We plan for a setup as a michaelson interferometer with a gas chamber on one arm to fill in contaminants.

Measurements

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