The Optical Nose

Posted 11 Nov 2004 at 19:59 UTC by steve

A new NIST Tech Beat article describes an artificial nose sensor being developed that is more than 1,000 times more sensitive than previous methods. The sensor can "smell" a single atom or molecule among 10 trillion using an optical cavity and a light absorbtion technique similar to spectroscopy. The technology is public domain, so it will likely be adopted quickly due to the lack of innovation-stifling patent issues and expensive licensing fees. One company, Vescent Photonics, is already working on a commercial product. The sensor was developed by Jun Ye and other researchers at the JILA research facility.