Thin film sensors can one day replace the requirement of external spectrometers because they are integrated components. Innovative technology has already been the subject of a patent application. A collection of experimental techniques called spectroscopy separates the radiation into components based on a particular characteristic, such as wavelength or mass.
Spectrometers are used as sensors in a variety of fields, notably Medical, Engineering, the Food Industry and many others. They can identify the colors (wavelengths) of light sources. The instruments for sale in the trade are generally enormous and very expensive. Most of them are built on the prism or network principle, which indicates that light is refracted and that the wavelength is determined by the refraction angle.
These components of sensors based on organic semiconductors have been studied for years at the Institute of Applied Physics (IAP) and the Dresden Integrated Center for Applied Physics and Photon Materials (IAPP) to Tu Dresde. Two systems have already been brought to the maturity of the market with the Senoric and Pruve spin-offs. Currently, IAP and IAPP scientists have created a thin layer sensor which explains an entirely new method to determine the wavelength of light and has significant advantages compared to available commercial spectrometers due to its small size and low cost. This sensor was created in collaboration with the Institute of Physical Chemistry.
The innovative sensors work on the following principle: a slim coating of light materials is excited by an unidentified light wavelength. Long -struggles (phosphorescent) and short (fluorescent) entities coexist in the film, each of which absorbs light in a different way. The wavelength of unidentified input light can be deduced from the intensity of the persistence.