The Golay Cell and Related Detectors

Another method of obtaining an electrical output from the gas cell is to place a fixed conductor near the distorting membrane forming a variable condenser which can be measured with a suitable circuit. This arrangement is used in the ONERA detector Chatanier and Gauffre [3.16]) and it is also used in gas analyzers (Luft cells) in which the gas to be analyzed is placed in one cell and the output compared with that from another cell containing a reference sample of gas. An attraction of this type of gas analyzer is that it utilizes the infrared spectral characteristics of the gas without requiring a dispersive element. 

Although these various types of pneumatic detector seem awkward compared with modern solid state devices, their importance should not be underestimated. The Golay cell is still the basic detector used in a large amount 

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