Ultrasensitive sensor causes stir at show

Melinda Rose, melinda.rose@photonics.com

A prototype laser spectroscopy platform developed by electrical engineers at Princeton University attracted a lot of attention when it was demonstrated during SPIE Photonics West 2010 in January. The sensor, a new development in wireless sensor networks for monitoring trace gases and chemicals, uses an infrared laser operating at 2 µm and can detect atmospheric carbon dioxide with a sensitivity of 113 ppb in an average time of 1 s.

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