Dear Colleagues,

the recent advances in optical sources have opened up new opportunities for gas and liquid sensing based photoacoustic spectroscopy. This technique combines the high selectivity provided by the spectral characteristics of laser sources with the possibility of avoiding the use of any optical detector. In particular, quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy has been recently exploited for developing sensitive gas detectors and to study energy relaxation mechanisms in optically excited gases.

Photoacoustic spectroscopy and quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy have recently branched out to various fields of application, including liquid and gas sensing for environmental monitoring, multi-gas detection, leak detection, breath sensing, homeland security, petrochemical exploration, leading researchers to design and develop sensors architecture for on-filed applications.

This Special Issue of Sensors, entitled “Photoacoustic Spectroscopy and Sensors”, will focus on all aspects of the research and development related to these areas. Topics include, but are not limited to:

• Photoacoustic spectroscopy for gas or liquid sensing
• Quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy for gas sensing
• Laser sources for photoacoustic spectroscopy and quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy (laser diodes, interband cascade lasers, distributed-feedback quantum cascade lasers, external-cavity quantum cascade lasers, Vernier lasers, frequency comb quantum cascade lasers, fiber lasers, etc.)
• Sensing mechanisms
• Photoacoustic sensors (downscaling, design, modelling and development) for on-field applications
• Application areas such as environmental monitoring, combustion, waste water, industrial process monitoring, workplace safety, agriculture and food science, security (particularly explosive detection), biological, medical such as breath analysis, petrochemistry and oil&gas exploration, etc.

Original research papers that focus on the design and experimental verification of new sensors based on photoacoustic spectroscopy and quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy, as well as papers that focus on their field-testing, are welcome. Both reviews and original research articles will be published. Reviews should provide an up-to-date, well-balanced overview of the current state-of-the-art and include main results from other groups. We look forward to, and welcome, your participation in this Special Issue.

Prof. Vincenzo Spagnolo
Dr. Marilena Giglio
Dr. Wei Ren
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• photoacoustic spectroscopy
• quartz-enhanced photoacoustic spectroscopy
• optical sources for sensing
• sensing mechanisms
• gas and liquid sensors
• environmental monitoring
• multi-gas sensing
• breath sensing
• peak detection
• homeland security
• petrochemical exploration
• on-field applications