Charles A. Hulse

Miniature Near-Infrared (NIR) Spectrometer Engine For Handheld Applications

While substantial progress has been made recently towards the miniaturization of Raman, mid-infrared (IR), and near-infrared (NIR) spectrometers, there remains continued interest from end-users and product developers in pushing the technology envelope toward even smaller and lower cost analyzers. The potential of these instruments to revolutionize on-site and on-line applications can only be realized if the reduction in size does not compromise performance of the spectrometer beyond the practical need of a given application. In this paper, the working principle of a novel, extremely miniaturized NIR spectrometer will be presented. The ultra-compact spectrometer relies on thin-film linear variable filter (LVF) technology for the light dispersing element. We will also report on an environmental study whereby the contamination of soil by oil is determined quantitatively in the range of 0-12% by weight of oil contamination. The achieved analytical results will be discussed in terms of the instruments competitiveness and suitability for on-site and in-the-field measurements.

Technical Note: Near infrared spectroscopic authentication of seafood

Near infrared (NIR) spectroscopic investigations of whole fish and fish fillets with a miniaturised, hand-held instrument were performed to demonstrate the feasibility of discriminating high-quality, expensive from lower-quality, less expensive, substitutes and responding to the increasing concerns regarding fraud and deception in seafood marketing. Generally, such problems can occur due to the mislabelling of products in the harvesting and processing system or species substitution at the restaurant level. To test the possibility of distinguishing superior from lower quality fish species, NIR spectra were measured in diffuse reflection from the skin and meat of the investigated fish. Subsequently, the spectra were evaluated by principal component analysis and further classified by soft independent modelling of class analogies. In the present communication, the results obtained with respect to the authentication of two different species of mullet, cod and trout, respectively, will be discussed in some detail.

Experimental demonstration of thin-film dispersion compensation for 50-GHz filters

Dispersion management is critical for next-generation high-bandwidth-utilization fiber-optical networks. Square-top thin-film bandpass filters for 50-GHz dense wavelength-division multiplexing inherently have high chromatic dispersion (CD) in transmission. The imparted dispersion power penalty on the network is undesirable. However, a second thin-film filter, operating in reflection, can be designed to compensate the CD of the bandpass filter. In this paper we demonstrate experimentally the reduction of the intrinsic CD of a 50-GHz thin-film coupler from /spl plusmn/170 ps/nm to /spl plusmn/50 ps/nm over a 30-GHz passband, through the use of such a cascaded thin-film compensator. Network simulations based on filter performance confirm the reduced dispersion power penalty of the cascade over the individual filter.

Miniature near-infrared spectrometer for point-of-use chemical analysis

Point-of-use chemical analysis holds tremendous promise for a number of industries, including agriculture, recycling, pharmaceuticals and homeland security. Near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy is an excellent candidate for these applications, with minimal sample preparation for real-time decision-making. We will detail the development of a golf ball-sized NIR spectrometer developed specifically for this purpose. The instrument is based upon a thin-film dispersive element that is very stable over time and temperature, with less than 2 nm change expected over the operating temperature range and lifetime of the instrument. This filter is coupled with an uncooled InGaAs detector array in a small, rugged, environmentally stable optical bench ideally suited to unpredictable environments. The resulting instrument weighs less than 60 grams, includes onboard illumination and collection optics for diffuse reflectance applications in the 900-1700 nm wavelength range, and is USB-powered. It can be driven in the field by a laptop, tablet or even a smartphone. The software design includes the potential for both on-board and cloud-based storage, analysis and decision-making. The key attributes of the instrument and the underlying design tradeoffs will be discussed, focusing on miniaturization, ruggedization, power consumption and cost. The optical performance of the instrument, as well as its fit-for purpose will be detailed. Finally, we will show that our manufacturing process has enabled us to build instruments with excellent unit-to-unit reproducibility. We will show that this is a key enabler for instrumentindependent chemical analysis models, a requirement for mass point-of-use deployment.

Beam displacement and distortion effects in narrowband optical thin-film filters

A three-dimensional model for beam propagation through optical interference filters is presented. The model predicts a wavelength-dependent lateral beam displacement of tens or hundreds of micrometers in narrowband filters at an angle of incidence of only 3° to 5°. The effects of filter bandwidth, wavelength offset, angle of incidence, and beam size are investigated. The effect is experimentally confirmed for a 100 GHz filter at a 3.5° angle of incidence.