A highly efficient CMOS nanoplasmonic crystal enhanced slow-wave thermal emitter improves infrared gas-sensing devices.

The application of plasmonics to thermal emitters is generally assisted by absorptive losses in the metal because Kirchhoff's law prescribes that only good absorbers make good thermal emitters. Based on a designed plasmonic crystal and exploiting a slow-wave lattice resonance and spontaneous thermal plasmon emission, we engineer a tungsten-based thermal emitter, fabricated in an industrial CMOS process, and demonstrate its markedly improved practical use in a prototype non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) gas-sensing device. We show that the emission intensity of the thermal emitter at the CO(2) absorption wavelength is enhanced almost 4-fold compared to a standard non-plasmonic emitter, which enables a proportionate increase in the signal-to-noise ratio of the CO(2) gas sensor.

Thermo-optical characterization of fluorescent rhodamine B based temperature-sensitive nanosensors using a CMOS MEMS micro-hotplate.

A custom designed microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) micro-hotplate, capable of operating at high temperatures (up to 700 °C), was used to thermo-optically characterize fluorescent temperature-sensitive nanosensors. The nanosensors, 550 nm in diameter, are composed of temperature-sensitive rhodamine B (RhB) fluorophore which was conjugated to an inert silica sol-gel matrix. Temperature-sensitive nanosensors were dispersed and dried across the surface of the MEMS micro-hotplate, which was mounted in the slide holder of a fluorescence confocal microscope.

A novel method for more accurately mapping the surface temperature of ultrasonic transducers.

This paper introduces a novel method for measuring the surface temperature of ultrasound transducer membranes and compares it with two standard measurement techniques. The surface temperature rise was measured as defined in the IEC Standard 60601-2-37. The measurement techniques were (i) thermocouple, (ii) thermal camera and (iii) novel infra-red (IR) "micro-sensor.