Optical Sensors (SENSORS)

14 - 17 julho 2013

Rio Mar Beach Resort, Rio Grande, PuertoRico

Sensors addresses all aspects of optical sensors from source and detection technologies, sensor configurations, and processing approaches to applications.

Optical sensors have many applications in R&D, national defense, and commercial markets such as medical diagnostics and process control.  Because of the breadth of applications for optical sensors the challenges to the design and functioning of an optical sensor for a particular use requires knowledge of optical, material, and environmental properties that affect sensor performance.  The wavelength range of the optical signal, the interaction between the optical signal and the target, the effect of the environment on propagation of the optical signal, methods to enhance the optical signal, and materials used to generate focus and collect the optical signal are all important aspects of optical sensors.   For example, standoff and proximal passive detection systems, both spectroscopic and imaging, require high transmission of light through the operational medium over a given wavelength range in order to detect and discriminate targets as diverse as trace explosives and tanks.  The use of active sources for standoff and proximal detection is another dimension of optical detection where optical sources are being developed to enhance the detection capability of these systems by generating a stable background for the optical sensor.  Because of the wide range of applications of optical sensors this topic area includes optical fiber sensors, laser based sensing, optical chemical and biological sensors, biomedical optical sensors, proximal and standoff spectroscopic and imaging sensors in the visible to the THz, quantum effects in optical sensing, and the scientific basis of optical sensing.

Topic Categories

• THz sensing
• Optical Fiber Sensors
• Laser Based Sensors
• Optical Chemical and Biological Sensors
• Biomedical optical sensors
• Micro and Nano-Engineered Sensors 
• Planar waveguide sensors
• Mid- and long-wavelength IR sensors
• Quantum effects in optical sensing
• Plasmonics in sensing
• Scientific basis of optical sensing