Compact and Highly Sensitive MEMS Enhanced Fiber Gas Spectrometer

Leveraging on our extensive production experience on MEMS technology and fiber optic components, AGILTRON proposes to realize a new class of gas spectrometer with built-in MEMS enhanced mid-IR tunable laser and gas filled hollow fiber as gas cell, targeted for TIC and CWA detection. Our proposed MEMS enhanced QCL based external cavity tuning laser has high output power (tens of mW) and very large wavelength tunable range (about 2 µm), which can dramatically increase the sensitivity and selectivity. Besides, a long hollow fiber coiled in small diameter can further increase sensitivity due to its long optical absorption path. Therefore, this kind of spectrometer not only has very high sensitivity but also is very lightweight, miniature in size, highly reliable and durable. The design intrinsically eliminates the requirement for optical alignment, providing excellent temperature stability and longevity. Furthermore, our designs offer advantageous attributes of quick action, lower power consumption, low cost, and withstand severe environmental conditions. In this Phase I program, state-of-the-art MEMS enhanced EC-QCL will be designed; the sensitivity increase of long hollow fiber gas cell will be further developed and demonstrated. In addition, the proposed gas spectrometer theoretical receiver operational characteristics (ROC) will be analyzed and simulated.