TU/e develops small spectrometer for smartphones

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Eindhoven University of Technology has developed a tiny spectrometer for smartphones that will eventually make it possible, among other things, to measure air quality, freshness of food or blood glucose levels with mobile phones.

According to the university, the small sensor developed by TU/e ​​measures just as accurately as larger models. The spectrometer detects a wavelength range of about thirty nanometers and within this it can distinguish about a hundred thousand frequencies. That frequency range is still too small for actual application in smartphones, but the researchers have already managed to turn it into a gas sensor and an accurate movement meter.

The basis of the sensor is a ‘light trap’ with a size of a few micrometers. This is contained in a membrane. The captured light of a small frequency range generates current through the membranes, which can be measured. The measurement thus makes it possible to analyze near-infrared light. By accurately varying the distance between membranes using a mems, or micro-electromechanical system, the light frequency that the sensor can measure changes.

The research team, led by TU/e ​​professor Andrea Fiore, is now focusing on broadening the spectrum to be measured with the sensor and adding a light source. The latter makes the meter independent of external sources for analyzing the reflection and absorption of light. In the future, the spectrometer should be able to be used, for example, for measuring the CO2 content in the air, recognizing medicines and detecting smoke. The sensor should be cheap and easy to build due to its small size. The researchers believe that in five years’ time the spectrometer will be sufficiently developed for integration into smartphones.

The TU/e ​​researchers describe their work in a publication in the scientific journal Nature Communications, under the title Integrated nano-opto-electro-mechanical sensor for spectrometry and nanometrology.

On the left a drawing of the spectrometer, on the right an image made with an electron microscope of the perforated membrane.

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