The use of a homemade gas leak detector based on laser photo-acoustic spectroscopy for fast and sensitive trace gas detection is reported. To obtain optimal acoustic resonator dimensions, resonant frequency variations in terms of resonator's length and radius were simulated, and then a gas leak detector based on photo-acoustic theory was designed and fabricated. The system limit of detection to trace NO2, SO2 and SF6 was 92, 270 and 8 ppb respectively. Therefore, this system can be used as a sensitive gas sensor for detecting partial leakage of some environmental and industrial pollutants. Variations of the resonant frequency versus various concentrations of NO2, SO2 and SF6 in the presence different buffer gases were studied, and results showed that the lighter buffer gas gives a higher resonance frequency. Also, variations of the photo-acoustic signal and SNR of these gas samples in terms of various CO2 laser power at the presence different buffer gases were investigated, and the saturation laser power for each experiment was obtained. Finally, it was shown that experimental results are in good agreement with photo-acoustic theory.
