A photoacoustic sensor includes a first layer with an optical MEMS emitter; a second layer stacked over the first layer with a MEMS pressure pick-up and an optically transparent window, wherein the MEMS pressure pick-up and the optically transparent window are offset laterally with respect to one another; and a third layer stacked over the second layer with a cavity for a reference gas. The optical MEMS emitter transmits optical radiation along an optical path, wherein the optical path runs through the optically transparent window and the cavity for the reference gas, and wherein the MEMS pressure pick-up is outside the course of the optical path.

The present invention relates generally to the field of chemical and biological sensors and in particular to micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) sensors for measuring fluid viscosity and detection of minute amounts of chemicals and biological agents in fluids. It is an object of the present invention to provide a sensor that will work in disposable cartridges with remote sensing that can measure dynamic changes of the functionalized cantilevers in liquid and gas environment.

A radiation source device includes at least one membrane layer, a radiation source structure to emit electromagnetic or infrared radiation, a substrate and a spacer structure, wherein the substrate and the at least one membrane form a chamber, wherein a pressure in the chamber is lower than or equal to a pressure outside of the chamber, and wherein the radiation source structure is arranged between the at least one membrane layer and the substrate.

An optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy (OR-PAM) system for visualizing water content deep in biological tissue uses an all-fiber 1930-nm hybrid optical parametrically-oscillating emitter. The emitter includes a tunable laser source whose output is amplified by a first erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA). The output of the first amplifier is modulated with a Mach-Zehnder amplitude modulator that receives an RF signal with a nanosecond pulse width and a multiple kilohertz repetition rate. A second EDFA further amplifies the signal and passes it to a fiber circulator that in turn delivers it to a 1950/1550 mm fiber wavelength-division-multiplexing coupler WDM. The coupler introduces the signal to a cavity that includes a spool of highly nonlinear fiber and a Thulium-doped fiber amplifier TDFA. From the TDFA the signal reaches a 50/50 fiber coupler that sends part to a second output TDFA and guides part back to the cavity through a port of the WDM.

A defect detection apparatus is provided that can inspect a measurement region of a target object at one time and without inconsistencies arising within the measurement region. A defect detection apparatus 10 includes: a generation unit (signal generator 11 and vibrator 12) for generating an elastic wave in a target object S; an illumination unit (pulsed laser light source 13 and illumination light lens 14) for performing stroboscopic illumination onto a measurement region of a surface of the target object S; and a displacement measurement unit (speckle shearing interferometer 15) for collectively measuring displacements in a normal direction at each point of the measurement region with respect to at least three mutually-different phases of the elastic wave by controlling a phase of the elastic wave and a timing of the stroboscopic illumination. Defects in the measurement region are detected based on the displacements in the normal direction at each point of the measurement region with respect to at least three phases that are obtained by the displacement measurement unit.

A quantum cascade laser integrated device includes: first and second lower semiconductor mesas extending in a direction of a first axis; a covering region disposed on top and side faces of the first and second lower semiconductor mesas, and including a first and second upper semiconductor mesas, the first and second upper semiconductor mesas extending in the direction of the first axis on the first and second lower semiconductor mesas, respectively; and a first and second electrodes disposed on the second upper semiconductor mesa, the first lower semiconductor mesa and the second lower semiconductor mesa each including a quantum cascading core layer, the covering region including a current blocking semiconductor region embedding the first and second lower semiconductor mesas, and a first conductivity-type semiconductor region disposed on the first and second lower semiconductor mesas and the current blocking semiconductor region, and the conductivity-type semiconductor region including an upper cladding region.

An acoustic wave detector may include: an exterior housing with an exterior housing wall, a gas chamber located within the exterior housing and configured to receive a gas therein. The exterior housing wall may include an aperture providing a gas passage between the gas chamber and the exterior of the acoustic wave detector. The acoustic wave detector may further include an excitation element configured to selectively excite gas molecules of a specific type in the gas received in the gas chamber in a time-varying fashion, thereby generating acoustic waves in the gas, and an acoustic wave sensor configured to detect the acoustic waves generated in the gas and acoustic waves generated outside of the acoustic wave detector. The acoustic wave sensor may have an acoustic port overlapping with the aperture in the exterior housing wall.

A photoacoustic imaging system is disclosed that includes an ergodic relay coupled optically to a light source configured to produce a light pulse and further coupled acoustically to a transducer. The ergodic relay is further configured to direct at least two PA signals to the transducer. Each of the at least two PA signals are produced at different positions within the field of view of the object to be imaged in response to illumination by a single light pulse. The transducer detects each of the at least two PA signals after each of at least two delays that correspond to the position at which each PA signal was produced.

Provided are an optical sensor device using surface acoustic waves and an optical sensor device package. The optical sensor device includes: a substrate including a first light sensing area and a temperature sensing area and including a piezo electric material; a first input electrode and a first output electrode which are disposed in the first light sensing area and are apart from each other with a first delay gap therebetween; a first sensing film overlapping the first delay gap and configured to cover at least some portions of the first input electrode and the first output electrode; and a second input electrode and a second output electrode which are disposed in the temperature sensing area and are apart from each other with a second delay gap therebetween. The second delay gap is exposed to air.

Photoacoustic detecting device (1), intended to be applied, via a contact face (3), against a medium to be analysed, the device comprising: a hollow cavity (20) comprising a first aperture (22) produced in the contact face, the cavity being bounded by a containment shell (21) that extends around the first aperture; a pulsed or amplitude-modulated light source (10) configured to emit, in an emission spectral band (Δλ), an incident light wave (11) through the cavity (20) to the first aperture; an acoustic transducer (28) linked to the cavity and configured to detect a photoacoustic wave (12) extending through the cavity. The photoacoustic detecting device is optimized to increase the amplitude of the photoacoustic wave detected by the acoustic transducer.