Patent ID: 8022366

Claim:
An apparatus for detecting mid-IR spectra, comprising: a surface micro-machined low mass thermal emitter wherein the emitter is electrically pulsed and emits electromagnetic radiation including the mid-IR, 2.5 to 12.5 μm; a set of quarter-wavelength plates of a mid-IR transmitting material wherein the thickness of the plates progressively increases from a quarter wavelength of 2.5 μm on a first end of the set of quarter-wavelength plates to a quarter wavelength of 12.5 μm at a second end of the set of quarter wavelength plates wherein the set of plates acts as a dispersive spectroscope element in the mid-IR; a set of detector elements wherein each element responds to heating at its location wherein each element's location corresponds to a given member of a set of dispersed radiation in the mid-IR wherein a heated element is disposed to rise from a substrate when heated; and wherein each of the set of detector elements forms a capacitor with the substrate and its energy absorption at its dispersed wavelength location is measurable wherein the capacitance relative to the substrate is changed.