The present invention relates to a highly portable, highly flexible standard of distance chemical detector such as can be used, for example, for standoff detection of explosives. Aspects of the invention include techniques for portability compactness and ways to diminish influence of fluorescence on Raman spectroscopy. Additional features can include a compact imaging spectrometer, a wirelessly connected smart device for user interface, and an auto-focus/range finder.

Plasmonic optical fibers, plasmonic optical sensors and methods of manufacturing the same. A fiber core conveys an optical signal therewithin and provides a plasmonic sensing area exposed to a fluid. The plasmonic sensing area is formed only on a section of an external surface of the fiber core. The plasmonic sensing area provides an interface within the section of the external surface for the conveyed signal to at least partially exit the fiber core and cause a modified optical signal to be conveyed in the fiber core. An optical signal generator may provide the optical signal to the plasmonic optical fiber, an optical signal receiver may discriminate the conveyed optical signal from the modified optical signal and a processor module may analyze the modified optical signal and identifies physical characteristics of the fluid present at the sensing area.

A system for measuring with the aid of light absorption spectrometry the concentration of one or more analytes in porewater in soil, the system comprising: one or more monitoring unit(s), each monitoring unit comprising a porewater sampler (1), an optical flow cell (2) with a tube connecting the liquid inlet port of said optical flow cell to said porewater sampler; and vacuum arrangement to enable extraction of porewater; at least one light source (5) for generating a light beam to be transmitted through said optical flow cell (2); and at least one detector (8) for obtaining spectral information from the beam exiting said optical flow cell. A method of measurement is also provided.

Fiber-optic equipment is often deployed in various locations, and performance of fiber-optic transmissions may be monitored as a gauge of equipment status to prevent costly and inconvenient communication outages. Events that damage equipment that eventually result in outage and may be desirable to address proactively, but the occurrence of such events may be difficult to detect only through equipment performance. Presented herein are techniques for monitoring and maintaining fiber-optic equipment performance via enclosure sensors that measure physical properties within a fiber-optic equipment enclosure, such as temperature, pressure, light, motion, vibration, and moisture, which are often diagnostic and predictive of causes of eventual communication outages, such as temperature-induced cable loss (TICL), incomplete flash-testing during installation, exposure to hazardous environmental conditions, and tampering. An enclosure sensor package transmits the physical measurements to a monitoring station, and automatic determination of enclosure-related events may enable triaging and transmission of repair alerts to maintenance personnel.

A spectrally encoded imaging device having a light transmission path arrangement which propagates light to illuminate a target object, a light collection path arrangement having a light collection waveguide which propagates a spectrally encoded portion of the light from the target object to a detector which forms an image of the target object accordingly, and a diffractive element which spectrally disperses at least one of the light and the spectrally encoded portion. The light transmission path arrangement and the light collection path arrangement are optically isolated from one another.

A grating element has an interface configured to cause light beams, include N visible color lights, incident to the interface to diffract at different orders. An imaging lens is configured to focus the N visible color lights diffracted by the grating element. A sensor is configured to receive and detect the focused N visible color lights. The focused N visible color lights include at least a first color light and a second color light. The first color light is diffracted in a first diffraction order and corresponds to a first wavelength resolution for the first color light. The second color light is diffracted in a second diffraction order and corresponds to a second wavelength resolution for the second color light. The first diffraction order is higher than the second diffraction order and the first wavelength resolution is smaller than the second wavelength resolution.

An inspection apparatus includes a light source. A first measurement unit is configured to receive light from the light source and direct it to a first measurement object. A second measurement unit is configured to receive the light from the light source and direct it to a second measurement object. An inspection unit is configured to receive a first optical signal provided from the first measurement unit and inspect the first measurement object using the first optical signal, and to receive a second optical signal provided from the second measurement unit and inspect the second measurement object using the second optical signal. A measurement position selection unit is configured to alternately enable the inspection of the two measurement units by adjusting an angle of a reflection mirror.

An optical detection system for analyzing a fluid sample including a light source configured to emit a light beam to interact with the sample to form a spectrum, an optical fiber to transmit the spectrum, an array of single-photon detectors (SPDs), and wherein each SPD is configured to receive and is tunable to analyze spectral characteristics of the spectrum across a spectral range.

Provided is a concentration measuring device which includes: a main pipe through which a fluid whose concentration is to be measured flows; a flow cell having a fluid passage and a light passage formed to pass through the fluid passage; a spectrometer capable of measuring absorbance for each wavelength of the source light transmitted to the flow cell and the received light receiving from the flow cell; and an optical cable connecting the flow cell and the spectrometer with each other, wherein the flow cell is separated from the main pipe to be provided separately, and a fluid pipe is connected to the flow cell, so that the fluid flows from the main pipe to the flow cell through the fluid pipe using a pitot tube.

An endpoint detection system for enhanced spectral data collection is provided. An optical bundle is coupled to a light source configured to generate incident light. The optical bundle includes two or more sets of optical fibers that each include an emitting optical fiber and a receiving optical fiber. The receiving optical fibers are disposed within the optical bundle at a pairing angle relative to a respective emitting optical fiber. The optical bundle is also coupled to a collimator assembly that includes an achromatic lens. The achromatic lens receives a first light beam of incident light from a first emitting optical fiber and directs spectral components of the first light beam to a first and second portion of a surface of a substrate. The first portion of the substrate surface is substantially the same as the second portion. The achromatic lens collects reflected spectral components that are produced by the spectral components directed to the first and second portions of the substrate surface. The achromatic lens transmits the reflected spectral components to a first receiving fiber of the optical fiber bundle, which transmits the reflected spectral components to a light detection component. A processing device coupled to the light detection component determines a reflectance of the substrate surface based on the reflected spectral components.