A team of researchers from Princeton and Rice universities have discovered a new way to identify nitric oxide using inexpensive and portable lasers and sensors.
The gas is so potent that even a few molecules of it in a billion of air will promote smog, acid rain and other environmental effects, while tiny amounts of it in a patient's breath could help to diagnose asthma and other conditions.
A sensor could be used to monitor car and truck emissions, as well as public exposure to pollutants in industrial environments, while it would be similarly attractive in medical applications.
"The sensor we've developed is much more accurate and sensitive than existing systems, yet is far more compact and portable," commented Gerard Wysocki, assistant professor of electrical engineering at Princeton.
Earlier in the year, a method for creating a gas sensor from nanotubes was described by scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
