Portable tunable interband cascade laser spectrometer using thin-film waveguides for food contaminant analysis

Interband cascade lasers (ICL) are high output power mid-infrared light sources with low power consumption, serving as a viable alternative to more commonly applied quantum cascade lasers. The integration of ICLs with thin-film waveguides facilitates miniaturized sensing platforms based on the princ...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:AIP advances 2024-12, Vol.14 (12)
Main Authors: Femenias, A., Erdem, M., Fomina, P., Scheuermann, J., Blazhko, U., Freitag, S., Bosman, A. J., Weih, R., Koeth, J., Kohler, A., Krska, R., Salentijn, G. I. J., Ruggeri, F. S., Mizaikoff, B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Absorption
Chemical analysis
Contaminants
Data processing
Figure of merit
Food
Fourier transforms
Infrared analysis
Infrared lasers
Infrared reflection
Light sources
Onsite
Portability
Quantum cascade lasers
Supply chains
Thin films
Tunable lasers
Waveguides
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Interband cascade lasers (ICL) are high output power mid-infrared light sources with low power consumption, serving as a viable alternative to more commonly applied quantum cascade lasers. The integration of ICLs with thin-film waveguides facilitates miniaturized sensing platforms based on the principles of evanescent field absorption toward tailorable high-fidelity portable mid-infrared (MIR) sensing solutions for on-site chemical analysis. The analytical performance of a MIR sensing system is presented combining a tunable interband cascade laser emitting at a wavelength range of 5.88–6.09 µm (1702–1641 cm−1) with a 6 µm GaAs/AlGaAs thin-film waveguide as the active transducer for customized evanescent field absorption analysis of food contaminants. A comparison of the analytical performance of the developed tICL-based system vs conventional Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy is presented for the exemplary analysis of the Fusarium mycotoxin deoxynivalenol, a persistent food contaminant resulting from fungal infection. The thin-film waveguide enhances the sensitivity compared to conventional attenuated total reflection systems, revealing improved detection limits. The compact design of the system, along with the favorable analytical figures-of-merit and automated data processing, confirm the potential of the developed tICL-based spectrometer for on-site detection of food contaminants at various stages along the food supply chain.
ISSN:2158-3226
DOI:10.1063/5.0226248