We introduce the basics of an apodized 2f/1f wavelength modulation method for the spectroscopy of the R(9) transition line in the first overtone band of carbon monoxide (12C16O) in near-infrared (NIR) region around 2.33 μm. Performance of the method is investigated for high gas concentrations beyond the optically thin limit to generalize common 2f/1f wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) reported by Rieker et al. (Appl Opt 48:5546, [28]). Numerical simulations are performed based on real experimental parameters associated with a NIR spectrometer designed in our laboratory. The results primarily show a more linear response and less error than occurred in the common WMS-2f/1f method for an optically thick sample. It is also theoretically shown that the apodized method enables sharpening the spectrum without peak displacement compared to the common WMS-2f/1f method. The validity of the method is verified experimentally by the trace detection of an air-broadened R(9) CO absorption line centered at 4,294.637 cm-1 at atmospheric pressure and room temperature. The effect of a so-called scaling k-factor on the sharpening of WMS-2f/1f signal is investigated through trace simulation and detection of CO and methane (CH4) lines in the scanning range of a distributed feedback laser. The obtained results show very good agreement between simulation and experiment. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
