The prospects of LEDs, diode detectors and negative luminescence in infrared sensing of gases and spectroscopy

Abstract

Infrared (IR) gas sensors are a minority of the general gas–sensing instrument market. They compete with devices based upon gas interaction with surfaces such as electrochemical sensors. They differ in that IR devices are selective, can ‘fail to safety’ and are potentially intrinsically safe. However, they tend to be more expensive, using existing technology. We may expect that in due course the impact of all solid–state semiconductor mid–IR technology should revolutionize this situation and lead to significant growth in IR gas sensing.