A Discussion of Particle Size Effects in Photoacoustic Spectroscopy

Abstract

For some time the particle size of the sample has been noticed to affect the magnitude and quality of the photoacoustic signal observed (1,2,3). These effects have become increasingly significant as attempts have been made to obtain quantitative results in applying photoacoustic spectroscopy to the analysis of real samples. It can be demonstrated easily that a sample containing a wide range of particle size produces a photoacoustic signal with a significantly worse signal-to-noise ratio than does a sample containing only a narrow range of particle size.