What's the future for our technology?

With the current generations of our optical microchip sensors, the sensor utilises less than 1% of the available material. With the highly adaptable nature of our manufacturing process Stratophase is developing additional functionality and measurement parameters into the existing microchip formats.

Information about the process status is valuable, the more information that can be obtained from the liquid, the greater the insight and therefore the value it provides. With the current technology both the refractive index and temperature are optically measured at the same location providing two independent pieces of process information along with measurement status information.

Stratophase is actively developing its optical microchip technology to encompass multiple optical measurement types, and hence provide an integrated platform for sensing the optical properties of liquids. Our vision is to use multiple parameters, all measured on a single optical chip and at the same point in time, to give high value information regarding the nature of the liquid or elements contained within the liquid.

The integration of multiple measurement types, or multiple independent measurements of the same property, adds significant value to Stratophase's core technology when applied to both Process Status Monitoring and Biodetection.

The specific measurement type which are being developed for integration onto Stratophase's optical microchip platform can be classified as;

• Dispersion — the refractive index for a given material varies with the wavelength at which it is measured, therefore measuring refractive index at multiple wavelengths allows the liquid being sensed to be more uniquely finger printed when compared to a single wavelength measurement.
• Turbidity — liquids containing particles cause light to scatter, by eye this scattering is seen as the liquid becoming cloudy. Measuring how light scatters as it passes through a liquid can therefore be used to determine the turbidity of a liquid, and hence imply particle content.
• Absorption — the chemical composition of a liquid directly affects the optical wavelengths which are absorbed by it. Stratophase's optical microchip technology offers the potential to implement targeted absorption at multiple discrete wavelengths, allowing finger printing of a liquid in a manner which is simpler than a fully spectroscopic technique.
• Particle information — more detailed interrogation of the way in which light scatters as it passes through a liquid gives further information regarding the physical nature of the particles which are causing the scattering. Combining information from refractive index and optical scatter can further refine the finger print associated with the presence of particles.
• Specific liquid parameters — functionalisation of Stratophase's optical microchips gives the potential to monitor specific chemical species for which the surface of the sensor has been sensitised. The implementation of materials, which change optical properties in the presence of know chemical species, on to the surface of an optical microchip sensor offers a route to profiling parameters such as:
  • Dissolved Oxygen
  • pH