Gas-sensing apparatus
AssigneeUniversitaet Wien
InventorsStefan PUTZ, Michael TRUPKE
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A gas-sensing apparatus is provided. The gas-sensing apparatus comprises a test chamber formed in a body and comprising a pair of micromirrors. One of the pair of micromirrors is disposed on a first surface of the body and the other of the pair of micromirrors is disposed on a second surface of the body, forming an optical cavity. A light inlet is arranged to couple light into the optical cavity, and light outlets are arranged to receive light from the optical cavity. A gas inlet configured to allow gas from outside of the detector to enter the test chamber. A gas detector comprising a gas-sensing apparatus, a light emitting system, and a light detecting system is also provided.
Claims33
A gas-sensing apparatus comprising:
- a test chamber formed in a body, the test chamber comprising a pair of micromirrors, one of the pair of micromirrors being disposed on the first surface of the body and the other of the pair of micromirrors being disposed on the second surface of the body, wherein the pair of micromirrors forms an optical cavity;
- a light inlet arranged to couple light into the optical cavity;
- light outlets arranged to receive light from the optical cavity;
- and
- a gas inlet configured to allow gas from outside of the apparatus to enter the test chamber.
A method of providing a gas-sensing apparatus for use in detecting presence of a target gas species, the method comprising:
- constructing the gas-sensing apparatus by forming a test chamber between a first part and a second part, the test chamber comprising a plurality of pairs of micromirrors, one of each pair of micromirrors being disposed on the first part and the other of each pair of micromirrors being disposed on the second part, wherein each pair of micromirrors forms a respective optical cavity;
- coupling light into each optical cavity to determine a resonant frequency of each optical cavity;
- comparing the determined resonance frequencies to the frequency of an absorption peak of the target gas species;
- selecting one of the plurality of optical cavities based on the comparison of resonance frequencies to the frequency of the absorption peak;
- and
- configuring the gas-sensing apparatus to detect light from the selected optical cavity.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.