# US 12,007,323 B2 · Compact apparatus for high-speed chemical spectral signature measurement and method of using same

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- Number: US 12,007,323 B2
- Document ID: US12007323B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/991,721
- Filed: 2022-11-21
- Published: 2023-07-20
- Granted: 2024-06-11
- Earliest claimed: 2019-11-29
- Assignees: Epir, Inc.
- Applicants: EPIR, Inc.
- Inventors: Wei Gao; Chang Yong; Silviu Velicu; Sivalingam Sivananthan
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12007323B2

## CPC

- G01N 21/255: {Details, e.g. use of specially adapted sources, lighting or optical systems}
- G01J 3/0208: {using focussing or collimating elements, e.g. lenses or mirrors; performing aberration correction}
- G01J 3/0286: {Constructional arrangements for compensating for fluctuations caused by temperature, humidity or pressure, or using cooling or temperature stabilization of parts of the device; Controlling the atmosphere inside a spectrometer, e.g. vacuum}
- G01J 3/0294: {Multi-channel spectroscopy}
- G01J 3/108: {for measurement in the infrared range}
- G01J 3/1256: {using acousto-optic tunable filter; (acousto-optic elements or systems G02F1/11, G02F1/33)}
- G01J 3/2803: {using photoelectric array detector}
- G01N 21/31: Investigating relative effect of material at wavelengths characteristic of specific elements or molecules, e.g. atomic absorption spectrometry {(G01N21/72 takes precedence)}
- G01N 21/35: using infrared light (G01N21/39 takes precedence)
- G01N 2201/067: Electro-optic, magneto-optic, acousto-optic elements
- G01N: INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES (measuring or testing apparatus or processes other than immunoassay, involving enzymes or microorganisms C12M, C12Q)
- G01J: MEASUREMENT OF INTENSITY, VELOCITY, SPECTRAL CONTENT, POLARISATION, PHASE OR PULSE CHARACTERISTICS OF INFRARED, VISIBLE OR ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT; COLORIMETRY; RADIATION PYROMETRY (light sources F21, H01J, H01K, H05B; investigating properties of materials by optical means G01N)

## Abstract

A multiband IR adjunct (MIRA) sensor to spectroscopically determine the content and the concentration of chemical composition of a targeted object, includes a sensor housing, a first front optics in a first optical channel, a second front optics in the first optical channel, an acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF), a photo detector (PD), a set of back optics in the first optical channel that focuses polarized narrow-band light beams received from the AOTF device onto the PD, the PD converting the polarized narrow-band light beams into an electrical signal, and a data acquisition unit signal-connected to the PD, the data acquisition unit collecting the electrical signals. Multiple optical channels can be provided within the housing to analyze UV/VIS/near infrared (NIR), short-wavelength infrared (SWIR), mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR), and LWIR wavelength ranges respectively.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A multiband IR adjunct (MIRA) sensor to spectroscopically determine the content and the concentration of chemical composition of a targeted object, comprising:
a sensor housing;
a first optical channel carried by the housing;
a first front optics in the first optical channel receiving a photon signal;
a second front optics in the first optical channel receiving the photon signal from the first front optics;
an acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF), carried by the housing, receiving light beams from the second front optics;
a photo detector (PD) carried by the housing;
a set of back optics in the first optical channel that receives polarized narrow-band light beams from the AOTF and focuses the polarized narrow-band light beams onto the PD, the PD converting the polarized narrow-band light beams into an electrical signal;
a data acquisition unit signal-connected to the PD, the data acquisition unit collecting the electrical signal.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The MIRA according to claim 1, further comprising a thermo-electric cooler (TEC), wherein the PD is cooled by the TEC operating at a temperature 30-120 degrees Celsius lower than a room temperature which is required for high SNR of the measurement.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The MIRA according to claim 1, further comprising a heat sink, wherein the PD thermally contacts the heat sink to dissipate the heat generated in sensor operation to the outside environment.

### Claim 4 (depends on 2)

The MIRA according to claim 2, wherein the PD provides the electrical signals to the data acquisition unit via electrical feedthroughs that are electrically insulated from the heat sink.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The MIRA sensor according to claim 1, wherein the AOTF device splits the light received from the second front optics into three beams, two polarized narrow band light beams and one broad-band beam.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The MIRA sensor according to claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises multiple optical channels, configured the same as the first optical channel, and the control can acquire data from the multiple channels simultaneously, which allows high speed spectroscopic measurements in a wide wavelength range to be executed.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The MIRA sensor according to claim 6, wherein the multiple channels are arranged in a linear array that covers a wavelength range from UV to LWIR.

### Claim 8 (depends on 6)

The MIRA sensor according to claim 6, wherein the multiple channels are arranged in a 2×2 format.

### Claim 9 (depends on 6)

The MIRA sensor according to claim 6, wherein the multiple channels are arranged in a circular format.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The MIRA sensor of claim 1, wherein the material of the AOTF is TeO2 for the optical channel where the wavelength range is less than 4.5 micro meters.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The MIRA sensor of claim 10, wherein the material of the AOTF is different from TeO2 for the optical channel where the wavelength range is greater than 4.5 micro meters.

### Claim 12 (depends on 1)

The MIRA sensor of claim 1, wherein the housing has the size of 5-10 inch long by 5-10 inch wide by 1-3 inch tall, weighs 1-10 pounds.

### Claim 13 (depends on 1)

The MIRA sensor of claim 1, wherein the sensor consumes 10-50 watts of power.

### Claim 14 (depends on 1)

The MIRA sensor of claim 1, wherein the sensor further comprises 1 to 9 additional optical channels of the spectrometer that work together to complete the spectroscopic scans in the process of data collection.

### Claim 15 (depends on 1)

The MIRA sensor of claim 1, wherein the first front optics from the first optical channel have a first optical power that receives light signal with a field-of-regard from 10-90 degrees.

### Claim 16 (depends on 1)

The MIRA sensor of claim 1, wherein the second front optics from the first optical channel has a second optical power that collimates the light received from the first front optics and reduces the divergence angle to 0-7 degrees.

### Claim 17 (depends on 1)

The MIRA sensor of claim 1, wherein the back optics from the first optical channel is composes of several lenses that focuses the polarized narrow-band light beams received from the AOTF device onto the PD.

### Claim 18 (depends on 1)

The MIRA sensor of claim 1, further comprising a second optical channel and a third optical channel, configured the same as the first optical channel; wherein the second and third optical channels are carried by the housing, and the data acquisition unit is signal-connected to the PDs of the second and third optical channels, the data acquisition unit collecting the electrical signals from the second and third optical channels.

### Claim 19 (depends on 18)

The MIRA sensor according to claim 18, wherein first, second and third optical channels are arranged in a linear array that covers a wavelength range from UV to LWIR.