title: Micromechanical photothermal spectroscopy of trace gases using functionalized polymers.
abstract: We demonstrate a novel method to spectroscopically detect and identify trace gases. Micromechanical photothermal spectroscopy (MPS) with functionalized sorbent materials provides trace gas spectra in an optical interaction length of only a few micrometers. We use microcavity interferometry to read out displacements as low as 25  fm/√Hz, heating as low as 200  pW/√Hz, and analyte concentrations as low as 65 parts-per-billion for the nerve agent simulant DMMP. MPS integrated with functional materials represents an important new tool in chip-scale optical sensing.
authors: Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375, USA. stievater@nrl.navy.mil
authors: T H
authors: TH
authors: Stievater
authors: N A
authors: NA
authors: Papanicolaou
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Bass
authors: W S
authors: WS
authors: Rabinovich
authors: R A
authors: RA
authors: McGill
mesh_terms: D005740:Gases / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D007368:Interferometry; D008027:Light; D055595:Mechanical Phenomena; D055620:Optical Phenomena; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D013057:Spectrum Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D014835:Volatilization
chemical_list: D005740:Gases; D011108:Polymers