Optical design and characterization of a gas filled MEMS Fabry-Perot filter

Abstract

A concept for a highly integrated and miniaturized gas sensor based on infrared absorption, a Fabry-Perot type linear variable optical filter with integrated gas cell, is presented. The sample chamber takes up most of the space in a conventional spectrometer and is the only component that has so far not been miniaturized. In this concept the gas cell is combined with the resonator cavity of the filter. The optical design, fabrication, and characterization results on a MEMSbased realization are reported for a 24-25.5 μm long tapered resonator cavity. Multiple reflections from highly reflective mirrors enable this optical cavity to also act as a gas cell with an equivalent optical absorption path length of 8 mm. Wideband operation of the filter is ensured by fabrication of a tapered mirror. In addition to the functional integration and significant size reduction, the filter contains no moving parts, thus enables the fabrication of a robust microspectrometer