Optical Odor Sensor

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Rodriguez Mendez and coworkers did a series of researches in the development of new sensors able to detect the odors and aromas [32,58,75-78], They first used lutetium bisphthalocyanine (LuPc ) LB and evaporated films for the detection of the aroma of olive oil or wine (hexanol, hexanal, -buthyl acetate, and acetic acid) based on the changes in their conductivity [76], The kinetics and the intensity of the response of the films depend not only on the morphology and the thickness of the films but also on the nature of the reactant gas. They detected acetic acid down to 88 mmol/L, based on the refractive index changes in combination with an optical fiber... 

The process whereby dogs recognize and respond to odors is still not very well understood, and current research in this area is attempting to quantify such responses and improve the reliability of this already remarkable detection system [68,82], While it may eventually be possible to combine chemical sensors, readout devices, and neural network processing schemes to create an electro-optic dog that will reduce or eliminate the variability of the natural system, we have a long way to go before this can be accomplished. 

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