Sensor device and for determining a physical value
First Claim
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1. A sensor device for determining a physical value of a substance, comprisinga laser whose emission behavior is affected by the physical value and which emits at least two competing modes (E1, E2, E1′
- , E2′
, E3, E4) lying above a laser threshold;
a measuring device for receiving a relative intensity noise (RIN) of the laser for a determination of intensities or intensity difference of the modes emitted by the laser; and
means providing a comparison between intensities of at least two of the modes (E1, E2, E1′
, E2′
, E3, E4) occurring under an influence of the physical value and, based on the comparison, producing a signal indicative of the physical value of the substance.
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Abstract
A sensor device for determining a physical value using a laser, whose emission behavior can be affected by the physical value is described. The laser is arranged to emit at least two concurrent modes lying above a laser threshold and the physical value is determined using a comparison of changes of the at least two modes occurring under the influence of the physical value.
22 Citations
28 Claims
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1. A sensor device for determining a physical value of a substance, comprising
a laser whose emission behavior is affected by the physical value and which emits at least two competing modes (E1, E2, E1′ - , E2′
, E3, E4) lying above a laser threshold;a measuring device for receiving a relative intensity noise (RIN) of the laser for a determination of intensities or intensity difference of the modes emitted by the laser; and means providing a comparison between intensities of at least two of the modes (E1, E2, E1′
, E2′
, E3, E4) occurring under an influence of the physical value and, based on the comparison, producing a signal indicative of the physical value of the substance. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
- , E2′
-
17. A method of determining a physical value using a laser by affecting its emission behavior by means of the physical value, comprising the steps of
operating the laser to emit at least two competing modes (E1, E2, E1′ - , E2′
, E3, E4) lying above a laser threshold,determining the intensities of the at least two modes (E1, E2, E1′
, E2′
, E3, E4) by measuring a relative intensity noise (RIN) of the laser,determining the physical value by comparing those intensities which result in relation to at least two of the modes (E1, E2, E1′
, E2′
, E3, E4) under an influence of the physical value by a detector, andbased on the comparison, and producing a signal indicative of the physical value of the substance. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
- , E2′
-
27. A sensor device for determining a physical value of a substance, comprising a laser whose emission behavior is affected by the physical value the laser and which emits at least two competing modes (E1, E2, E1′
- , E2′
, E3, E4) lying above a laser threshold;
means providing a comparison between intensities of at least two of the modes (E1, E2, E1′
, E2′
, E3, E4) occurring under an influence of the physical value, to effect a determination of the physical value; and
means for using the physical value so determined to identify a substance, wherein the sensor device is arranged to determine an optical absorption through a chemical substance having at least one optical absorption band (A) as the physical value, wherein the laser is arranged to emit a number (k) of the modes (E1, E2, E1′
, E2′
, E3, E4) which is at least one greater than a plurality (k−
1) of the substances, with all other modes (k−
1) apart from a mode serving as a reference mode tuned simultaneously to an absorption band (A) of one each of the substances to determine the absorption of a plurality (k−
1) of chemical substances.
- , E2′
-
28. A method of determining a physical value using a laser by affecting its emission behavior by means of the physical value, comprising the steps of operating the laser to emit at least two competing modes (E1, E2, E1′
- , E2′
, E3, E4) lying above a laser threshold, determining the physical value by comparing those intensities which result in relation to at least two of the modes (E1, E2, E1′
, E2′
, E3, E4) under an influence of the physical value, identifying a substance based on the determined physical value, determining an optical absorption (A) by a chemical substance as the physical value, and operating the laser so that a plurality (k) of the modes (E1, E2, E1′
, E2′
, E3, E4) is radiated and so tuned for determining the absorption which is affected by different substances that each one of the modes spectrally matches an absorption band (A) of one of the substances.
- , E2′
Specification