WaterSpy is a consortium of 10 partners, including Alpes Lasers, funded by Horizon 2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation for 2014-2020 in order to develop water quality analysis photonics technology suitable for inline, field measurements.

At the completion of the project in 2020, the WaterSpy module was extensively tested in the labs of partners in Austria, Germany and Italy, followed by a real-world demonstration at a water treatment plant near Genoa in Italy. While a full sample analysis of 100 ml of water may take up to 3 days using current laboratory analysis systems, the WaterSpy portable device takes no more than 7 hours to conduct an equivalent analysis, and is therefore less costly. It also complies with the latest EU drinking water regulations.

This system only requires two standard Quantum Cascade Lasers to perform the analysis. Do not hesitate to contact us for more information!

Frequency Combs Lasers are now available centered around 6.02 microns, in the amine band, in addition to previously available comb lasers available around 7.95 microns. You can more details in this Optics Express paper as well as in this a sample datasheet.

The small size and weight of quantum cascade lasers (only ~100 g for HHL housings) make them ideal candidates for integration into remote sensing devices. 

In this paper published by EMPA an Alpes QCL emitting at 7.83 microns is integrated into a hexacopter drone, achieving a methane concentration measurement with a precision of 0.1 ppb. The system was flown in a field study to measure a vertical profile of methane concentration.