Kagome Hollow Core Fiber-Based Mid-Infrared Dispersion Spectroscopy of Methane at Sub-ppm Levels

In this paper, we demonstrate the laser-based gas sensing of methane near 3.3 mu m inside hollow-core photonic crystal fibers. We exploit a novel anti-resonant Kagome-type hollow-core fiber with a large core diameter (more than 100 mu m) which results in gas filling times of less than 10 s for 1.3-m-long fibers. Using a difference frequency generation source and chirped laser dispersion spectroscopy technique, methane sensing with sub-parts-per-million by volume detection limit is performed. The detection of ambient methane is also demonstrated. The presented results indicate the feasibility of using a hollow-core fiber for increasing the path-length and improving the sensitivity of the mid-infrared gas sensors.