Infrared sensors are important tools for monitoring environmental conditions industrial and automotive safety and homeland security. These sensors work by detecting narrow bands of infrared light from a small emitter and interpreting the results. However most current emitters do not allow operators to tune the output band of light during operation and many also lack sufficient power or structural stability to be useful in varying applications. This invention is a mid-infrared emitter that can be actively tuned between 3.9 µm and 4.5 µm. Applications: • Automobile Sensors • Control of air-fuel ratio • Exhaust gas sensor • Air quality sensor • Industrial Safety • Emissions monitoring • Composition monitoring • Environmental Monitoring • Carbon dioxide monitoring • Monitoring of atmospheric pollution • Portable water pollution monitors • Carbon monoxide (CO) sensors for home smoke detectors • Homeland Security • Chemical and biological warfare agent detectors • Hazardous chemicals • Security perimeter monitoring • Airborne biotoxins • Humidity sensing Status: Granted United States Patent US8492737
1) Design enables real-time narrow band spectral tuning 2) High emission output power 3) Emitter structure is stable for a wide variety of applications 4) Inexpensive compared to other current emitters