Development of a diamond waveguide sensor for ultra sensitive chemical analysis using tunable mid-IR quantum cascade lasers

Project funded by Swedish Research Council (Project grant), grant 2014-05959_VR. Participating organisations named by the source: Stockholm University. Funded amount: SEK 3,200,000, as stated by the source. Runs 2015-01-01 to 2018-12-31. Keywords: Naturvetenskap, Natural Sciences, Fysik, Physical Sciences, Atom- och molekylfysik och optik, Atom and Molecular Physics and Optics. Source: OpenAIRE Graph, from the funder's project data (collected by OpenAIRE on 2025-12-05); national funding data, not CORDIS. Abstract given by the source: The project is aimed to develop a sensitive chemical sensor based on a microfabricated diamond waveguide. By coupling mid-IR light into a macroscopic diamond crystal FTIR-ATR spectroscopy can be performed. The light is reflected 1-9 times inside the crystal and chemical information from the analyte is collected. FTIR-ATR are commercial available and found in many laboratories. We intend to fabricate a thin diamond waveguide, this to reach several hundred of internal reflections. The number of reflection is directly related to the sensitivity of the sensor. A problem with a thin waveguide, besides the needs for microfabrication methods, is the light sources today used are too week for couple mid-IR light through the waveguide. This miniaturized and potentially very sensitive sensor has therefore never been exploited. In this proposed project we overcome the hurdles by using our newly developed processes for fabrication of complex optical micro- and nanostructures in diamond for mid-IR applications, and in combination with using new types of tunable quantum cascade laser as the mid-IR light source. This is a label free method giving unique signatures for each biomolecule. In addition we solve problems with overlapping IR-spectrum from complex mixtures by coating the waveguide with a thin layer of nanocrystalline diamond (NCD). The NCD layer can be functionalized for fishing out relevant biomolecules, which we have recently shown by capturing C-reactive protein to NCD surfaces.

Original source.

Source: OpenAIRE Graph: projects of national funders, OpenAIRE, from the project data of Swedish Research Council. Retrieved 2026-10-22. Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (OpenAIRE Graph). Selected metadata, adapted presentation; the publisher's record is authoritative. No endorsement by the source is implied. Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).

AI-assisted summary: The project, funded by the Swedish Research Council, aims to develop a sensitive chemical sensor using a microfabricated diamond waveguide and mid-IR quantum cascade lasers. It runs from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2018, with a funding amount of SEK 3,200,000. Suggested technology pillar: sensing. Generated by AI from the public source text; it may contain errors and the original source is authoritative.