Miniaturized integrated optic chemical sensors for environmental monitoring and remediation

The use of integrated optic chemical sensors in environmental monitoring and remediation applications offers many advantages, the most prominent being that they can easily accommodate multiple sensing-elements, are miniaturized, lightweight, and immune to electromagnetic interference. We are developing versatile, multi-analyte, micro-miniaturized integrated optic chemical sensor (IOCS) technologies for use in closed-loop control and process monitoring for industrial and environmental applications. We have demonstrated a complete integrated optic sensor system and tested it by simultaneously identifying and quantifying samples containing traces of metal ions in a water stream. Conversion of the optical information into control signals is accomplished by a wavelength-division multiplexed optoelectronic unit, which can be remotely located, connected via optical fibers. The simplicity of this process makes this a very promising approach for the fabrication of commercially viable integrated optic devices.