Compact fluorescence sensors based on III nitrides

Significant efforts have been made lately towards transforming the large and costly laboratory fluorescence measurement systems to compact portable fluorometers based on solid-state light emitting diodes (LEDs) and photodiodes. UV/blue LEDs and filtered Si photodiodes have been employed for characterization of various compounds including live bacteria populations by using fluorescent proteins. To take advantage of the high temperature and chemical stability of the III nitride materials it would be beneficial to use them for fabrication of all sensor components including the wavelength-selective features. In this work we fabricated multi-wavelength fluorescence sensor devices using only III nitride-based components. These devices were tested for fluorescence measurements of fluorescein, chlorophyll, aromatic hydrocarbons, and E.coli bacteria.