Chirping breakthrough in gas detection

Developers have made a breakthrough that will make gas detection faster and more accurate.

Trace gas detection, which is the ability to detect the smallest amounts of a particular element diluted by a number of others, has a vast number of applications including medical testing, air pollution detectors and bomb sniffers.

Now developers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have created a sensor that is hundreds of times faster and more sensitive than other gas detection devices available.

"This new sensor can simultaneously detect many different trace gases at very fast rates and with high sensitivity," said NIST chemist Kevin Douglass.

"It's also built from off-the-shelf technology that you can carry in your hands. We feel it has great commercial potential," he added.

Mr Douglass explained that the breakthrough came with the use of radiation at terahertz frequencies - between infrared and microwaves – that can search for multiple molecules simultaneously by 'chirping'.

Meanwhile, the IR400 Combustible Gas Detector has become the first combustible point infrared ethylene monitor to achieve dual FM and CSA performance verification.