Paper
16 February 2005 Resonant microcavity light emitters for onboard exhaust emissions IR sensor
Author Affiliations +
Proceedings Volume 5663, Photonics in the Automobile; (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.597602
Event: European Workshop on Photonics in the Automobile, 2004, Geneva, Switzerland
Abstract
A sensor based on selective optical absorption allows monitoring of hazardous engine exhaust emissions such as gaseous hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide. The IR components presented here offer the potential to develop a compact, fast and selective sensor reaching the technical and cost requirements for on-board automotive applications. Optical gas monitoring requires light sources above 3μm since most of the gas species have their fundamental absorption peaks between 3 and 6 μm. We report here on resonant microcavity light sources emitting at room temperature between 3 and 5μm. The emitter combines a CdxHg1-xTe light emitting heterostructure and two dielectric multilayered mirrors. It is optically pumped by a commercial III-V laser diode. The principle of the resonant microcavity emitter allows tailoring of the emission wavelength and the line width to fit the absorption band of a specific gas, ensuring a very good selectivity between species. Moreover, this kind of emitter allows fast modulation enabling high detectivity and short response time. We report performances of light sources in the range 3-5μm allowing the detection of hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide. Association of emitters peaking at different characteristic wavelengths with a single broad band detector allows designing of an optical sensor for several gas species. Sensitivity and time response issues have been characterized: detection of less than 50ppm of CH4 on a 15cm path has been demonstrated on synthetic gas; analysis of exhaust gases from a vehicle has allowed cylinder to cylinder resolution. This optical sensor offers the potential of various on-board automotive applications.
© (2005) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Francois Levy, Emmanuel Picard, Johan Rothmann, Eric Mottin, Emmanuel Hadji, and Joel Duhr "Resonant microcavity light emitters for onboard exhaust emissions IR sensor", Proc. SPIE 5663, Photonics in the Automobile, (16 February 2005); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.597602
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KEYWORDS
Sensors

Absorption

Carbon monoxide

Optical microcavities

Mirrors

Prototyping

Semiconductor lasers

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