Holographic chemical vapor sensor

A holographic interferometer senses vapor-induced optical path length changes in polymer or other chemically sensitive films. The interferometer is inherently sensitive to changes in chemical vapor content, self-compensates for drifts, and accommodates a large array of sensor elements. A sniff-locked-loop synchronous detection method takes advantage of the interferometer's rapid response to achieve vapor concentration sensitivity in the parts-per-billion (ppb, parts in 10(9)) range. We demonstrate, for example, 40 ppb sensitivity to ethyl alcohol using poly(N-vinyl pyrrolidone) with a measurement time of 5 s.