Events

Fraunhofer ENAS

Tunable IR filter
 
An innovative Fabry-Perot-Interferometer (FPI) for tunable IR filter was developed by a team of researchers of Fraunhofer ENAS, Center for Microtechnologies (ZfM) of the Chemnitz University of Technology and InfraTec GmbH, Dresden. A special arranged parallel spring suspension of a movable mirror fabricated by bulk micro machining leads to very flat and parallel mirrors and to potentially high wavelength resolution as well as high transmission rates. The filter is electro statically actuated. The cavity of the FPI defining the central transmission wavelength is capacitively detected by electronics based on Digital Signal Processing which allows setting up a closed loop system for high precision filters.
Important benefits of this novel FPI are high accuracy, very good parallelism of reflectors already without closed-loop operation, mechanical robustness and typical micro system properties like small size and light weight.
The innovative IR filter enables the production of smaller, cheaper and portable micro spectrometer. Possible applications for this innovation are integrated breath analyzer for alcohol in vehicles, gas concentration measurement at workplaces, infrared measurement for medical evaluation and much more.

Test the functionality of a gas analyzer using the innovative IR filter at the booth of Fraunhofer ENAS no C-21/22 in hall 4.

R filter chip (Source: InfraTec GmbH Dresden)