CAPPA are a partner in the €4 million EU H2020 project, REDFINCH. The REDFINCH consortium is developing the next generation of miniaturized, portable optical sensors for chemical detection in both gases and liquids. Initial target applications are in the petrochemical and dairy industries.
REDFINCH is a consortium of 8 European research institutes and companies undertaking cutting edge research and development into novel, high performance, cost effective chemical sensors, based on Mid-Infrared Photonic Integrated Circuits (MIR PICs). Silicon PICs – integrating optical circuits onto millimeter – size silicon chips – create extremely robust miniature systems, in which discrete components are replaced by on-chip equivalents. This gives a simultaneous improvement in ease of use and a reduction in cost.
The REDFINCH partners are addressing the significant challenge of implementing this in the important mid-infrared region, where many important chemical and biological species have strong absorption fingerprints. This allows for the detection and concentration measurement of a wide range of gases, liquids and bio-molecules, crucial for applications such as health monitoring and diagnosis, detection of biological compounds, monitoring of toxic gases, and many more.
REDFINCH recently developed a new project newsletter to provide updates on how the project is progressing. You can subscribe to the newsletter here and learn more about the REDFINCH project here.