The European Union has awarded Euro 2.8 million to the Plaisir project, a three-year project that seeks to create ultra sensitive chemical sensors and smarter, cheaper infrared photodetectors. Infrared (IR) technology is being used in more applications and the mid-IR range is used for fingerprinting molecules and proteins. Mid-IR detectors will thus have a more significant market in the coming days.
The Plaisir project is aimed at utilizing latest developments such as nanotechnology and optical telecommunications to the more traditional spectroscopic chemical sensing (SCS) to identify molecules. A goal of the project is to use SCS to sense Carbon Dioxide that causes global warming, and glucose the level of which is used to diagnose diabetes, which is becoming a serious problem with an ageing population.
The phenomenon of plasmonics is used in nanotechnology to confine and control light at both wavelengths and subwavelength scales. It is plasmonics that is the key to the improved SCS and IR detection. The advances can also help develop better IR cameras.
Mid-IR plasmonics has application in all areas from health, environment through to security and chemical process control.
Read the news at NewElectronics.co.uk and about the project at Plaisir Project website.
