Device and method for differential sensing of hydrogen gas using thermoabsorptance or thermoreflectance

摘要

A hydrogen sensor, useful for trace hydrogen gas detection. The sensor involves providing a gas sample, generating modulated optical excitation sources, bringing the optical excitation source to the side of a metalized thin pyroelectric film, and detecting via a lock-in amplifier circuit the coherent differential signal resulting from thermoreflectance and thermoabsorptance changes in the film when exposed to hydrogen gas.