A self-operating broadband spectrometer on a droplet.
Nat Commun
; 11(1): 2263, 2020 05 08.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-32385273
ABSTRACT
Small-scale Fourier transform spectrometers are rapidly revolutionizing infrared spectro-chemical analysis, enabling on-site and remote sensing applications that were hardly imaginable just few years ago. While most devices reported to date rely on advanced photonic integration technologies, here we demonstrate a miniaturization strategy which harnesses unforced mechanisms, such as the evaporation of a liquid droplet on a partially reflective substrate. Based on this principle, we describe a self-operating optofluidic spectrometer and the analysis method to retrieve consistent spectral information in spite of the intrinsically non-reproducible droplet formation and evaporation dynamics. We experimentally realize the device on the tip of an optical fiber and demonstrate quantitative measurements of gas absorption with a 2.6 nm resolution, in a 100 s acquisition time, over the 250 nm span allowed by our setup's components. A direct comparison with a commercial optical analyzer clearly points out that a simple evaporating droplet can be an efficient small-scale, inexpensive spectrometer, competitive with the most advanced integrated photonic devices.
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1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Nat Commun
Assunto da revista:
BIOLOGIA
/
CIENCIA
Ano de publicação:
2020
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Itália