A device including at least two ICEs that optically interact with a sample light to generate a first and a second modified lights is provided. The at least two ICEs include alternating layers of material, each of the layers having a thickness selected such that the weighted linear combination of the transmission functions is similar to the regression vector associated with a characteristic of the sample. The device may also include a detector that measures a property of the first and second modified lights separately to generate a first and second signal, respectively, wherein the weighted average of first and second signals is linearly related to the characteristic of the sample. A method for fabricating the above device is also provided.