Patent ID: 7244926

Claim:
An optically-powered integrated microstructure pressure sensing system for sensing pressure within a cavity, the pressure sensing system comprising: a pressure sensor, comprising: an optical resonant structure subject to the pressure within the cavity and having physical properties changing due to changing pressures within the cavity; a substrate supporting the optical resonant structure; an input optical pathway positioned to evanescently couple light transmitted through the input optical pathway into the optical resonant structure; an output optical pathway positioned to collect light from the optical resonant structure; and an elastic cladding material partially surrounding the optical resonant structure, the elastic cladding material positioned to transmit the pressure within the cavity to the optical resonant structure a refractive index of the elastic cladding material has an opposite temperature dependency to that of the optical resonant structure to reduce the temperature dependency of the optical resonant structure a light source delivering a known light input into the input optical pathway whereby the known light input is evanescently coupled into the optical resonant structure by the input optical pathway and a portion of such light is collected from the optical resonant structure by the output optical pathway; a light detector receiving the portion of the light collected from the optical resonant structure by the output optical pathway, and generating a light signal indicative of such portion of the light collected from the optical resonant structure; a temperature compensation sensor generating a temperature signal indicative of the temperature near the optical resonant structure; and a spectrum detection device receiving the light signal and temperature signal, the spectrum detection device analyzing the light signal and the temperature signal with a detection algorithm for generating a pressure signal indicative of the pressure within the cavity.