Abstract
We report on spectroscopic real-time analysis of ethane traces in exhaled human breath. Ethane is considered the most important volatile marker of free-radical induced lipid peroxidation and cell damage in the human body. Our measurements were carried out by means of mid-infrared cavity leak-out spectroscopy in the 3 μm region, a cw variant of cavity ring-down spectroscopy. The spectrometer is based on a CO overtone laser with tunable microwave sidebands. The resulting system proved to be an unique tool with high sensitivity and selectivity for rapid and precise breath testing. With a 5 s integration time, we achieved a detection limit on the order of 100 parts per trillion ethane in human breath. Thus, sample preconcentration is unnecessary. Time-resolved monitoring of the decaying ethane fraction in breath after smoking a cigarette is demonstrated.
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Received: 13 March 2001 / Published online: 9 May 2001
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Dahnke, H., Kleine, D., Hering, P. et al. Real-time monitoring of ethane in human breath using mid-infrared cavity leak-out spectroscopy. Appl Phys B 72, 971–975 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s003400100609
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s003400100609