scholarly journals Improving the Signal to Noise Ratio of QTF Preamplifiers Dedicated for QEPAS Applications

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 4105
Author(s):  
Piotr Z. Wieczorek ◽  
Tomasz Starecki ◽  
Frank K. Tittel

The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is a major factor that limits the detection sensitivity of quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (QEPAS) sensors. The higher the electrical signal level compared to the noise amplitude is the lower the concentration of gases that can be detected. For this reason the preamplifier circuits used in QEPAS should be optimized for low-frequency narrow-band applications. Moreover, special care should be taken when choosing a particular operational amplifier in either a transimpedance or voltage (differential) configuration. It turns out that depending on the preamp topology different operational amplifier parameters should be carefully considered when a high SNR of the whole QEPAS system is required. In this article we analyzed the influence of the crucial parameters of low-noise operational preamplifiers used in QEPAS applications and show the resulting limitations of transimpedance and voltage configurations.

2012 ◽  
Vol 108 (10) ◽  
pp. 2837-2845 ◽  
Author(s):  
Go Ashida ◽  
Kazuo Funabiki ◽  
Paula T. Kuokkanen ◽  
Richard Kempter ◽  
Catherine E. Carr

Owls use interaural time differences (ITDs) to locate a sound source. They compute ITD in a specialized neural circuit that consists of axonal delay lines from the cochlear nucleus magnocellularis (NM) and coincidence detectors in the nucleus laminaris (NL). Recent physiological recordings have shown that tonal stimuli induce oscillatory membrane potentials in NL neurons (Funabiki K, Ashida G, Konishi M. J Neurosci 31: 15245–15256, 2011). The amplitude of these oscillations varies with ITD and is strongly correlated to the firing rate. The oscillation, termed the sound analog potential, has the same frequency as the stimulus tone and is presumed to originate from phase-locked synaptic inputs from NM fibers. To investigate how these oscillatory membrane potentials are generated, we applied recently developed signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) analysis techniques (Kuokkanen PT, Wagner H, Ashida G, Carr CE, Kempter R. J Neurophysiol 104: 2274–2290, 2010) to the intracellular waveforms obtained in vivo. Our theoretical prediction of the band-limited SNRs agreed with experimental data for mid- to high-frequency (>2 kHz) NL neurons. For low-frequency (≤2 kHz) NL neurons, however, measured SNRs were lower than theoretical predictions. These results suggest that the number of independent NM fibers converging onto each NL neuron and/or the population-averaged degree of phase-locking of the NM fibers could be significantly smaller in the low-frequency NL region than estimated for higher best-frequency NL.


Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (19) ◽  
pp. 5704
Author(s):  
Zhenhu Jin ◽  
Yupeng Wang ◽  
Kosuke Fujiwara ◽  
Mikihiko Oogane ◽  
Yasuo Ando

Thanks to their high magnetoresistance and integration capability, magnetic tunnel junction-based magnetoresistive sensors are widely utilized to detect weak, low-frequency magnetic fields in a variety of applications. The low detectivity of MTJs is necessary to obtain a high signal-to-noise ratio when detecting small variations in magnetic fields. We fabricated serial MTJ-based sensors with various junction area and free-layer electrode aspect ratios. Our investigation showed that their sensitivity and noise power are affected by the MTJ geometry due to the variation in the magnetic shape anisotropy. Their MR curves demonstrated a decrease in sensitivity with an increase in the aspect ratio of the free-layer electrode, and their noise properties showed that MTJs with larger junction areas exhibit lower noise spectral density in the low-frequency region. All of the sensors were able detect a small AC magnetic field (Hrms = 0.3 Oe at 23 Hz). Among the MTJ sensors we examined, the sensor with a square-free layer and large junction area exhibited a high signal-to-noise ratio (4792 ± 646). These results suggest that MTJ geometrical characteristics play a critical role in enhancing the detectivity of MTJ-based sensors.


2000 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-60
Author(s):  
Umesh Kumar

An indigenised lock-in amplifier is designed that enables the accurate measurement of signals contaminated by broad-band noise, power-line pick-up, frequency drift, or other sources of interference. It does this by means of an extremely narrow band detector which has the centre of its passband locked to the frequency of the signal to be measured. Large improvements in signal-to-noise ratio are achieved.


2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 2260-2265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhao Fang ◽  
Ninad Mokhariwale ◽  
Feng Li ◽  
Suman Datta ◽  
Q. M. Zhang

The large magnetoelectric (ME) coupling in the ME laminates makes them attractive for ultrasensitive room temperature magnetic sensors. Here ,we investigate the field sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of ME laminates, consisting of magnetostrictive and piezoelectric layers (Metglas and piezopolymer PVDF were used as the model system), which are directly integrated with a low noise readout circuit. Both the theoretical analysis and experimental results show that increasing the number of piezoelectric layers can improve the SNR, especially at low frequencies. We also introduce a figure of merit to measure the overall influence of the piezolayer properties on the SNR and show that the newly developed piezoelectric single crystals of PMN-PT and PZN-PT have the promise to achieve a very high SNR and consequently ultra-high sensitivity room temperature magnetic sensors. The results show that the ME coefficients used in early ME composites development works may not be relevant to the SNR. The results also show that enhancing the magnetostrictive coefficient, for example, by employing the flux concentration effect, can lead to enhanced SNR.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Fragasso ◽  
S. Schmid ◽  
C. Dekker

AbstractNanopores bear great potential as single-molecule tools for bioanalytical sensing and sequencing, due to their exceptional sensing capabilities, high-throughput, and low cost. The detection principle relies on detecting small differences in the ionic current as biomolecules traverse the nanopore. A major bottleneck for the further progress of this technology is the noise that is present in the ionic current recordings, because it limits the signal-to-noise ratio and thereby the effective time resolution of the experiment. Here, we review the main types of noise at low and high frequencies and discuss the underlying physics. Moreover, we compare biological and solid-state nanopores in terms of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), the important figure of merit, by measuring free translocations of a short ssDNA through a selected set of nanopores under typical experimental conditions. We find that SiNx solid-state nanopores provide the highest SNR, due to the large currents at which they can be operated and the relatively low noise at high frequencies. However, the real game-changer for many applications is a controlled slowdown of the translocation speed, which for MspA was shown to increase the SNR >160-fold. Finally, we discuss practical approaches for lowering the noise for optimal experimental performance and further development of the nanopore technology.


2000 ◽  
Vol 55 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 37-40
Author(s):  
David Stephenson ◽  
John A. S. Smith

A cross-relaxation technique is described which involves two spin contacts per double reso-nance cycle. The result is an improvement in signal to noise ratio particularly at low frequencies. Experimental spectra and analyses are presented: 14N in ammonium sulphate showing that the tech-nique gives essentially the same information as previous studies; 14N in ammonium dichromate determining e2Qq/h as (76±3) kHz and η = 0.84±.04; 7Li in lithium acetylacetonate for which the spectrum (corrected for Zeeman distortion) yields e2Qq/h = (152 ±5) kHz and η=.5 ±.2. Calculated spectra are presented to demonstrate the η dependence of the line shapes for 7Li.


2012 ◽  
Vol 239-240 ◽  
pp. 807-810
Author(s):  
Jian Jun Li ◽  
Jian Feng Zhao

Life parameters signal has characteristics of extremely low frequency, low signal-to-noise ratio, and the easy submerged in strong clutter noises. The method for detecting life signal based on filter bank and high order statistics is presented, in which neither the Gaussian supposition of the observed signal, nor a prior information about the waveform and arrival time of the observed signal is necessary. The principle of method is to separate the spectrum of input signal into many narrow frequency bands, whose Sub-band signal is followed by a short-time estimation of higher-order statistics so as to suppress Gaussian noises. Simulated results show that the method not only can completely descript life signals in the time-frequency domain, but improve the signal-to-noise ratio and the ability of detecting algorithm. Moreover, the method is effective and practical.


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