{"id":98,"date":"2018-05-14T10:36:21","date_gmt":"2018-05-14T08:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.uit.no\/onchipsensing\/?page_id=98"},"modified":"2026-01-12T16:29:50","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T15:29:50","slug":"uitrace-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/site.uit.no\/onchipsensing\/projects\/uitrace-2\/","title":{"rendered":"UiTrace: Ultra-sensitive Integrated Trace gas sensors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Troms\u00f8 Research Foundation, TFS Starting Grant<br>UiT Project Leader, July 2018 &#8211; December 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The\u202f<strong>UiTrace<\/strong> project\u202fbuilt on the fundamental advances of the <a href=\"https:\/\/site.uit.no\/onchipsensing\/projects\/micro-sense\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"108\">MICROSense<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/site.uit.no\/onchipsensing\/projects\/scent\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"101\">sCENT<\/a> projects, aiming to translate \u201chigh-risk &#8211; high-gain\u201d photonic concepts into applied, compact sensor systems for trace gas detection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Phase I \u2013 Methane detection<\/strong><br>The first phase focused on developing and validating ultra-sensitive waveguide designs for methane sensing. Both slot waveguides (<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1021\/acsphotonics.3c01085\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Yallew <em>et al.<\/em>, ACS Photonics, 2023<\/a>) and free-standing membrane waveguides (unpublished results) were successfully demonstrated, showcasing methane detection limits down to 200 ppb, thus establishing new benchmarks for on-chip methane detection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.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Phase II \u2013 CO\u2082 isotope detection<\/strong><br>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 CO\u2082 sensor to date (<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1364\/OPTICA.533710\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Salaj <em>et al.<\/em>, Optica, 2024<\/a>), achieving detection limits down to 20 ppb and enabling precise isotope-ratio measurements.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Phase III \u2013 Towards field-ready demonstrators<\/strong><br>In its final stage, <strong>UiTrace<\/strong> 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.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Impact<\/strong><br>UiTrace bridged the gap between fundamental photonic device concepts and field-deployable gas sensors. By advancing both methane and isotope-specific CO\u2082 detection on a chip, the project laid the groundwork for compact sensing platforms with applications ranging from\u202fenvironmental monitoring\u202fto\u202fmedical diagnostics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"824\" height=\"435\" src=\"https:\/\/site.uit.no\/onchipsensing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/362\/2026\/01\/uitrace_chip-1.png\" alt=\"Render of the fully integrated sensor the UiTrace project is aiming to develop\" class=\"wp-image-1170\" style=\"object-fit:cover\" srcset=\"https:\/\/site.uit.no\/onchipsensing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/362\/2026\/01\/uitrace_chip-1.png 824w, https:\/\/site.uit.no\/onchipsensing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/362\/2026\/01\/uitrace_chip-1-300x158.png 300w, https:\/\/site.uit.no\/onchipsensing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/362\/2026\/01\/uitrace_chip-1-768x405.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 824px) 100vw, 824px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Troms\u00f8 Research Foundation, TFS Starting GrantUiT Project Leader, July 2018 &#8211; December 2025 The\u202fUiTrace project\u202fbuilt on the fundamental advances of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":859,"featured_media":0,"parent":22,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-98","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>UiTrace: Ultra-sensitive Integrated Trace gas sensors - Photonic Sensing Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/site.uit.no\/onchipsensing\/projects\/uitrace-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UiTrace: Ultra-sensitive Integrated Trace gas sensors - Photonic Sensing Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Troms\u00f8 Research Foundation, TFS Starting GrantUiT Project Leader, July 2018 &#8211; 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