Scientists developed a new spectral system to better explore atmospheric environment by realizing three-dimensional detection of OH radical in the atmosphere.

The research was conducted by XIONG Wei and his team in the Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science. And their work may assist improving China’s stereoscopic detection technology of atmospheric environment.

OH radical, in the middle layer of atmosphere, helps a lot to understand the chemical component of atmosphere, especially the destruction of ozone layer and inversion of the water vapor concentration.

The team successfully developed the spectrometer with the spectral resolution of 0.008 nm, which is a hyper-resolution spatial heterodyne spectrometer (SHS) used for hydroxyl radical OH detection with limb observations from a satellite.

The SHS instrument could get the three-dimensional distribution of OH with a series of observation radiation intensities at different time for the same volume with the aid of the movement of the satellite platform.

And the team conducted the detection experiments of ground-based direct solar radiation, solar scattered radiation and aviation flight during the time from July to November in 2017.

The results showed that spatial heterodyne spectroscopy was an effective and feasible technical option to realize spaceborne system for OH radical detection in the the middle layer of atmosphere tomographic.

The technology presents its potential application in the fine detection of atmosphere components.

The work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China and Aerospace Pre-research Project of State Administration of Science.

Link to the paper: Hyper-Resolution Spatial Heterodyne Spectrometer for Hydroxyl Radical OH

Contact:

ZHOU Shu

Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (http://english.hf.cas.cn/)

Email: zhous@hfcas.ac.cn