Tromsø Research Foundation, TFS Starting Grant
UiT Project Leader, July 2018 – December 2025
The UiTrace project built on the fundamental advances of the MICROSense and sCENT projects, aiming to translate “high-risk – high-gain” photonic concepts into applied, compact sensor systems for trace gas detection.
- Phase I – Methane detection
The first phase focused on developing and validating ultra-sensitive waveguide designs for methane sensing. Both slot waveguides (Yallew et al., ACS Photonics, 2023) and free-standing membrane waveguides (unpublished results) were successfully demonstrated, showcasing methane detection limits down to 200 ppb, thus establishing new benchmarks for on-chip methane detection sensitivity. - Phase II – CO₂ isotope detection
The scope was then extended to carbon dioxide, with a strong emphasis on isotope-specific detection. This led to the development of the most sensitive and selective on-chip CO₂ sensor to date (Salaj et al., Optica, 2024), achieving detection limits down to 20 ppb and enabling precise isotope-ratio measurements. - Phase III – Towards field-ready demonstrators
In its final stage, UiTrace contributes to the development of compact demonstrator systems for real-world deployment. The first validation campaigns are envisioned for challenging environments such as the Arctic, where ultra-sensitive, lightweight, and robust sensors are critically needed.
Impact
UiTrace bridged the gap between fundamental photonic device concepts and field-deployable gas sensors. By advancing both methane and isotope-specific CO₂ detection on a chip, the project laid the groundwork for compact sensing platforms with applications ranging from environmental monitoring to medical diagnostics.
