Detector (radio) | EPFL Graph Search

In radio, a detector is a device or circuit that extracts information from a modulated radio frequency current or voltage. The term dates from the first three decades of radio (1888-1918). Unlike modern radio stations which transmit sound (an audio signal) on an uninterrupted carrier wave, early radio stations transmitted information by radiotelegraphy. The transmitter was switched on and off to produce long or short periods of radio waves, spelling out text messages in Morse code. Therefore, early radio receivers did not have to demodulate the radio signal, but just distinguish between the presence or absence of a radio signal, to reproduce the Morse code "dots" and "dashes". The device that performed this function in the receiver circuit was called a detector. A variety of different detector devices, such as the coherer, electrolytic detector, magnetic detector and the crystal detector, were used during the wireless telegraphy era until superseded by vacuum tube technology. After

High spectral resolution waveguide spectrometer with enhanced throughput for space and commercial applications

Mohammadreza Madi

This dissertation presents the results concerning the development of an innovative high spectral resolution waveguide spectrometer, from the concept to the prototype demonstration and the test results. The main innovative aspects of this instrument are the enhanced throughput and the large spectral bandwidth in a static design without mechanism. These innovations are based on the customized pattern of nano-samplers fabricated on the surface of a planar waveguide, which allow enhancing the throughput and to increase the measurement points of the interferogram necessary for increasing the spectral bandwidth in a static way. On the other hand, the propagation in the unconfined direction of the planar waveguide is controlled using an adapted front-end optics to maintain the superposition of forwarding and reflected beams to form the interferogram under the nano-samplers. Polymeric- and silicon oxynitride-based planar waveguides were manufactured, evaluated and tested for studying mode profile in planar waveguides. The nano-samplers are gold nanodisks of few tens of nanometers in diameter and thickness, optimized for sampling the visible light coupled in the waveguide module of the spectrometer. A waveguide spectrometer prototype is made in silicon oxynitride/silicon dioxide technology and characterized in visible range at 633 and 685 nm using stable monochromatic laser sources. This waveguide spectrometer shows a nominal bandwidth of 256 nm thanks to a custom pattern of nanodisks providing 0.25 ÎŒm sampling interval at central wavelength of 633 nm. The targeted prototype in the near future is a highly integrated spectrometer, with an approximate footprint of a few cubic millimeters, excluding the volume required by the front-end optics and the detector electronics. This new type of instrument can be adapted for various spectral ranges where the material for the waveguide, the nano-samplers and the detectors are available and compatible (from ultraviolet to mid-infrared). This instrument has the potential to be used for numbers of space applications, for instance for the applications where the sample is in a close proximity to the spectrometer (e.g. mineralogy from a rover or active gas detection in a capsule or space station), or in remote sensing applications (e.g. atmospheric observations from a satellite). In addition, the principle idea is to group several of such spectrometers to allow hyperspectral imaging: a 1D array of spectrometers to form an acquisition line to image with lateral scanning, heading towards a full cube of spectrometers in a 2D image acquisition scheme to probe directly a complete scene (the concept of "FPAS" - focal plane array spectrometer). This technology is also adaptable for vast commercial applications in tele-surveillance, optical metrology, genomics and medical domain. At the system level, the full instrument optimization is taken into account in this dissertation, including front-end optics and the detector. Different subsystems are evaluated, developed and tested in order to integrate and demonstrate a complete prototype.

EPFL2016

Method and spectrometer apparatus for investigating an infrared absorption of a sample

Hatice Altug, Aleksandrs Leitis, Andreas Tittl

A method of investigating a sample (1) having an absorption within an infrared spectral range of interest, comprises the steps of creating measuring light (2) with a light source device (10), wherein the measuring light (2) includes wavelengths covering the infrared spectral range, directing the measuring light (2) through the sample (1) to a detector device (20) with a plurality of detector units (21), each of which comprising an infrared sensitive sensor section (22) and an associated metamaterial resonator section (23) having a specific spectral resonance line (3), wherein the spectral resonance lines (3) of the resonator sections (23) have different frequencies within the infrared spectral range, wherein the measuring light (2) is transmitted through the sample (1) to the resonator sections (23) and subsequently sensed by the sensor sections (22), wherein an output of each of the sensor sections (22) depends on the absorption of the sample (1) at the frequency of the spectral resonance line (3) of the associated resonator section (23), and providing at least one absorption characteristic of the sample (1) on the basis of the output of the sensor sections (22), wherein the sample (1) is arranged for providing near field coupling of electronic states of the sample (1) and photonic resonator states of the resonator sections (23), wherein, for each of the resonator sections (23), a resonance line attenuation is created, which is determined by a complex refractive index of the sample (1) at the frequency of the spectral resonance line (3) of the resonator section (23), and the output of each of the sensor sections (22) is determined by the resonance line attenuation of the associated resonator section (23). Furthermore, a spectrometer apparatus (100) for investigating a sample (1) is described, which has an absorption within an infrared spectral range of interest.

2019

184 mu W ultrasonic on-off keying/amplitude-shift keying demodulator for downlink communication in deep implanted medical devices

Catherine Dehollain, Francesco Mazzilli

An ultrasonic on-off keying/amplitude-shift keying demodulator using standard 0.18 mu m CMOS technology is proposed, intended for recovering the identification number of an implanted medical device transmitted from an external base station. The CMOS integrated ultrasonic demodulator consists of a low-noise amplifier, variable-gain-amplifiers, an offset cancellation circuit, an envelope detector circuit and a hysteresis comparator. Downlink data transmission of 50 kb/s data signals in the 1 MHz band is successfully demonstrated, the power consumption is about 184 mu W from a 1.5 V supply. The architecture is described, and the measurements performed confirm the theoretical result.