#photonics21 #h2020flair #FLAIR #horizon2020

The FLAIR team performed a week-long measurement campaign over the waters of the Kategatt, the strait linking the Nord Sea with the Baltic Sea. In collaboration with Explicit, a Danish company specialized in airborne pollutant detection, and Charlie9, a Helicopter company based near Copenhagen, more than 120 ships could be targeted, and their exhaust fumes analyzed. The FLAIR system has been tuned to target methane, a potent greenhouse gas, with absorption lines matching the

DTU built long wavelength mid-infrared supercontinuum source that is intended for operation in an airborne gas spectroscopy system for pollution monitoring as a part of the EU project FLying ultrA-broadband single-shot InfraRed Sensor (FLAIR). The 3MHz SC laser emit 86.6 mW output power with a spectrum spanning 1.46 µm-10.46 µm and packaged in a form factor of 47.4 cm x 30.0 cm x 13.45 cm. The average power fluctuation of the supercontinuum laser is 0.43% standard deviatio

On June 24th 2020 FLAIR Consortium successfully performed first flying test in Beromünster, Switzerland. Collaborative research journey started in 2016 led to its first testing flight to validate FLAIR system functionality. For the initial flight was used Zeppelin platform and test was controlled by scientists from EMPA and CSEM. Test successfully measured elevated methane concentration when flying above the controlled release installation. At the moment FLAIR Consortium eval

Radboud University is currently developing a compact, fast scanning, transportable Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) which is compatible with high repetition rate mid-infrared supercontinuum sources. This FTS system will be used in combination with the novel mid-infrared supercontinuum source, recently developed in DTU. “The spectrometer covers a broad wavelength range of 2-12 µm and uses the pulsed nature of the mid-infrared supercontinuum light to reduce the measurement

The Consortium has decided to rely on new airborne platforms: a zeppelin for initial tests and comparison to a ground based sensor installed on a tower (at tower test in Switzerland) and a manned helicopter for final verification and measurements (see Figure). The initial plan for the real-life test of the developed sensor is to fly inside the clouds of different ships to measure the elevated levels of gases. Schematic of the sensing process. Our developed sensor will be plac

Senseair has built and trimmed a long path length Multipass cell with a light distance of almost 18 meters. This equipment has been shipped to the researchers at CSEM in Neuchatel, Switzerland for verification and test. The next step in the development of optics is to replace the mirrors with new ones having higher reflectivity in the mid-IR spectral range. Moreover, Senseair will arrange for convenient interface with the laser beam input, and beam exit towards the spectromet

CSEM in Switzerland is currently designing and implementing an alternative detector prototype. The initial spectrometer with the VIPA is showing adequate resolution to resolve the fine structure of N2O gas spectral footprint. However, it appeared that the detection limit is currently 2 orders of magnitude too high to measure diluted samples as requested in the FLAIR project. The revised design promises reduced optical losses and larger power per spectral unit achieved through

Radboud University has recently finished the characterization and performance verification of the new NIT camera for spectroscopy applications. “ We developed a lab-based spectroscopy system based on a supercontinuum light source from NKT, a multipass absorption cell, and the NIT MWIR camera similar to what will be used in the final setup of the FLAIR project. We are now working on the improvement of the camera performance in close collaboration with NIT.” – says Amir Khodaba

We are happy to release first movie about the project! Thanks to our great Consortium members for taking active part and participation in shooting: Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA), Tekever Autonomous Systems, NKT Photonics A/S, New Infrared Technologies (NIT), Technical University of Denmark (Department of Photonics Engineering), Radboud University (The research group in the Institute of Molecules and Materials), SenseAir AB and Swiss Ce