This project has a two-fold focus: First, we seek to intensify the collaboration between the groups of Gottfried Strasser at TU Wien and Hermann Detz at CEITEC, Brno Univ. of Technology through staff exchange. Both groups share a common research focus related to the development and understanding of MIR spectroscopic devices. CEITEC provides quantum chemical models for the adsorption of analyte molecules to the sensor surface. TU Wien covers the design, fabrication and characterization of cascade laser-based MIR sensors. Second, the scientific goal is to evaluate TiO2 as a new MIR waveguide material, which is promising due to its biocompatibility. The here proposed work extends a preliminary study by both groups, in which test devices, based on a grating coupler, a TiO2 waveguide and a quantum cascade detector, were fabricated, and the adsorption mode and related adsorption energies of glucose on anatase have been calculated by cluster approach (CA) and periodic boundary condition (PBC) methods.

Keywords
MIR spectroscopic devices;quantum chemical models;sensor surface