Imagine holding two different medications in your hands, one being the original, the other one being a counterfeit. Both appear exactly the same. Is there any way for you to distinguish them? The answer is: yes. Our quantum cascade laser (QCL) has the ability to identify substances in a split second.
The technology behind the innovation is called backscattering spectroscopy. It exploits the fact that every chemical substance absorbs an individual amount of infrared light. »If we irradiate a substance with a specific light source, we receive a very characteristic backscattering signal« describes Dr. Ralf Ostendorf, head of the Business Unit »Semiconductor Lasers« at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF in Freiburg.
The mid-infrared spectrum (MIR) is particularly well-suited for an unambiguous identification of substances. Within this spectrum, light has a wavelength of three to 12 micrometers. If molecules are irradiated with this light, they show a characteristic absorption behavior which the QCL measuring system picks up on.
In only a few milliseconds the QCL can be adjusted to individual absorption lines that lie within a broad spectral band. This means that a great deal of information about a substance’s absorption behavior can be detected in a very short time.
»Very precise conclusions are available due to the laser’s high spectral brilliance and the fast wavelength tuning - similar to a human fingerprint« explains Ostendorf. The developed QCL consequently manages to detect even the smallest amounts of a particular substance in real time, which is a significant improvement compared to previous systems.
A mobile measuring system for in-line process monitoring
The miniaturized quantum cascade lasers are being developed by scientists at the Fraunhofer IAF together with colleagues from the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS in Dresden. Fraunhofer IAF is working on the laser chips while Fraunhofer IPMS is responsible for an integrated MOEMS scanning grating. The MOEMS scanner allows continuous tuning of the wavelength and thus allows a very fast signal response.
Currently, the project team is making the lasers fit for application in the pharmaceutical industry. The researchers have already used their method to reliably determine the active ingredients of everyday pills for headaches and fever in a laboratory environment. Future application scenarios foresee the technology in the mass production of pharmaceuticals as a real-time control. Already during the production process defective medical preparations could be sorted out.
»Not only is it possible to quickly sort out faulty margins, but also to reliably detect drug plagiarism. A time-consuming and expensive manual control in the laboratory would be obsolete« Ostendorf sums up the added value.
The method was first used in security technology: In the EU project »CHEQUERS«, Fraunhofer IAF developed a portable detector based on quantum cascade lasers which can detect explosive or toxic substances from a safe distance. The Freiburg researchers are currently contacting industry partners in order to further develop their approach. Ostendorf outlines future challenges: »Initial talks have already taken place. In a next step, we want to use our sensors to detect individual substances in a drug mixture«.
https://www.iaf.fraunhofer.de/en/events/analytica_2018.html (Fraunhofer IAF at Analytica 2018)
https://www.iaf.fraunhofer.de/en/research/optoelectronic-devices.html (Optoelectronic devices)
https://www.iaf.fraunhofer.de/en/offers/semiconductor-lasers/mirphab.html (Pilotline for photonic components »MirPhab«)
https://www.iaf.fraunhofer.de/en/offers/semiconductor-lasers.html (Semiconductor Lasers)
Laura Hau | Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Festkörperphysik IAF
Further reports about: > Angewandte Festkörperphysik > Drug > IAF > IPMS > Photonic Microsystems > chemical substance > lasers > semiconductor > wavelength
Weizmann physicists image electrons flowing like water
12.12.2019 | Weizmann Institute of Science
Revealing the physics of the Sun with Parker Solar Probe
12.12.2019 | NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
More than one hundred and fifty years have passed since the publication of James Clerk Maxwell's "A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field" (1865). What would our lives be without this publication?
It is difficult to imagine, as this treatise revolutionized our fundamental understanding of electric fields, magnetic fields, and light. The twenty original...
In a joint experimental and theoretical work performed at the Heidelberg Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics, an international team of physicists detected for the first time an orbital crossing in the highly charged ion Pr⁹⁺. Optical spectra were recorded employing an electron beam ion trap and analysed with the aid of atomic structure calculations. A proposed nHz-wide transition has been identified and its energy was determined with high precision. Theory predicts a very high sensitivity to new physics and extremely low susceptibility to external perturbations for this “clock line” making it a unique candidate for proposed precision studies.
Laser spectroscopy of neutral atoms and singly charged ions has reached astonishing precision by merit of a chain of technological advances during the past...
The ability to investigate the dynamics of single particle at the nano-scale and femtosecond level remained an unfathomed dream for years. It was not until the dawn of the 21st century that nanotechnology and femtoscience gradually merged together and the first ultrafast microscopy of individual quantum dots (QDs) and molecules was accomplished.
Ultrafast microscopy studies entirely rely on detecting nanoparticles or single molecules with luminescence techniques, which require efficient emitters to...
Graphene, a two-dimensional structure made of carbon, is a material with excellent mechanical, electronic and optical properties. However, it did not seem suitable for magnetic applications. Together with international partners, Empa researchers have now succeeded in synthesizing a unique nanographene predicted in the 1970s, which conclusively demonstrates that carbon in very specific forms has magnetic properties that could permit future spintronic applications. The results have just been published in the renowned journal Nature Nanotechnology.
Depending on the shape and orientation of their edges, graphene nanostructures (also known as nanographenes) can have very different properties – for example,...
Using a clever technique that causes unruly crystals of iron selenide to snap into alignment, Rice University physicists have drawn a detailed map that reveals...
Anzeige
Anzeige
03.12.2019 | Event News
First International Conference on Agrophotovoltaics in August 2020
15.11.2019 | Event News
Laser Symposium on Electromobility in Aachen: trends for the mobility revolution
15.11.2019 | Event News
Weizmann physicists image electrons flowing like water
12.12.2019 | Physics and Astronomy
Revealing the physics of the Sun with Parker Solar Probe
12.12.2019 | Physics and Astronomy
New technique to determine protein structures may solve biomedical puzzles
12.12.2019 | Life Sciences