Effective field monitoring systems are needed to improve the quality and increase the use of environmental monitoring. Most laboratory-based systems, although powerful tools for the laboratory analyst, are not well-suited for field applications. Continuous, insitu sensors provide real time data with high accuracy and low cost for multiple analyses. Optical sensor technologies are highly accurate and sensitive, are capable ofbeing used insitu and are highly versatile in terms oftheir potential applications. Fiber Optic Chemical Sensors (FOCS®) utilize the characteristics ofoptical sensors to provide an effective tool for continuous environmental monitoring. The FOCS® technology has recently been adapted to a new platform: a chip-level, solid state, optical waveguide, chemical sensor. This new optical platform provides several advantages ofthe FOCS®, and further improves the effectiveness of optical sensors for environmental monitoring. The chip-level optical sensor platform has been used with different optical sensing mechanisms (e.g., refractive index, absorbance and fluorescence) for the detection ofhydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, oxygen and pesticides.
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