A Wide-Area, Wireless, Passive Dosimeter for Tracking Mercury Vapor Exposure

A wireless, passive mercury vapor dosimeter based on use of a gold-coated magnetoelastic sensor is reported. Detection of mercury vapor is achieved by monitoring the shift in the sensor resonant frequency due to the selective absorption of mercury by the gold coating. The resonant frequency of the sensor, monitored through magnetic field telemetry, decreases with mercury vapor absorption. The sensor is readily incorporated into a badge-like dosimeter, with exposure to mercury vapor automatically and remotely monitored through the described detection electronics. The technology can be extended for simultaneous monitoring of multiple analytes by using multiple sensors of different lengths, i.e., non-overlapping operational frequency ranges.