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A chemical-detecting system based on a cross-reactive optical sensor array

Nature volume 382, pages 697–700 (1996)Cite this article

Abstract

THE vertebrate olfactory system has long been recognized for its extraordinary sensitivity and selectivity for odours. Chemical sensors have been developed recently that are based on analogous distributed sensing properties1–4, but although an association between artificial devices and the olfactory system has been made explicit in some previous studies4,5, none has incorporated comparable mechanisms into the mode of detection. Here we describe a multi-analyte fibre-optic sensor modelled directly on the olfactory system, in the sense that complex, time-dependent signals from an array of sensors provide a 'signature' of each analyte. In our system, polymer-immobilized dye molecules on the fibre tips give different fluorescent response patterns (including spectral shifts, intensity changes, spectral shape variations6 and temporal responses) on exposure to organic vapours, depending on the physical and chemical nature (for example, polarity, shape and size) of both the vapour and the polymer. We use video images of temporal responses of the multi-fibre tip as the input signals to train a neural network for vapour recognition. The system is able to identify individual vapours at different concentrations with great accuracy. 'Artificial noses' such as this should have wide potential application, most notably in environmental and medical monitoring.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Max Tishler Laboratory for Organic Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, 02155, USA

    Todd A. Dickinson & David R. Walt

  2. The Department of Neuroscience, Tufts School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, 02111, USA

    Joel White & John S. Kauer

Authors
  1. Todd A. Dickinson
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  2. Joel White
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  3. John S. Kauer
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  4. David R. Walt
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Dickinson, T., White, J., Kauer, J. et al. A chemical-detecting system based on a cross-reactive optical sensor array. Nature 382, 697–700 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1038/382697a0

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