An instrument is proposed which provides a triage of methods for locating, isolating and characterizing a single of small number of microorganisms, down to the femtomole level, within a complex inorganic or organic matrix. The instrument comprises three methodologies: deep ultraviolet, in situ,… More

Present planetary protection policy specifies maximum biological contamination on spacecraft, dependent on mission type. Present technologies do not have the sensitivity to measure biological contamination after heat sterilization for Class IVB biologic spacecraft. Measurements taken prior to heat… More

"This proposal addresses the need for deep UV semiconductor lasers for use in UV resonance enhanced Raman spectroscopic identification of biological agents. The proposed approach avoids the problems of p-doping and ohmic contacts by using subminiaturedirect electron injection excitation of an… More

This proposal addresses the need for deep UV semiconductor lasers for use in UV resonance enhanced Raman spectroscopic identification of biological agents. The proposed approach avoids the problems of p-doping and ohmic contacts by using subminiature direct electron injection excitation of an… More

We propose to develop a unique, on-line, in situ autonomous monitoring and process control system that will improve the reliability and performance of wastewater treatment systems that are designed to remove nitrogen through simultaneous nitrification and denitrification (SNdN). A key component… More

This proposal addresses the need for miniature, low power, reagentless, robot-mounted, instruments for real-time detection and classification of trace concentrations of biological and chemical agents on surfaces. Deep UV laser induced native fluorescence (UVLINF) is the most sensitive technique for… More

This proposal addresses the need for miniature, low power, reagentless, robot-mounted, instruments for real-time detection and classification of trace concentrations of biological and chemical agents on surfaces. Deep UV laser induced native fluorescence (UVLINF) is the most sensitive technique for… More

This proposal enables development a miniature, low power consumption, fused deep UV Raman and native fluorescence (DUV-RF) stand-off sensor. The proposed fused instrument has the ability to measure the spatial distribution of chemical species containing C, N, H, O, S, Cl, and/or water, ice, and… More

Naphthalene has been identified as a serious health hazard for personnel working with JP8 and other fuels containing naphthalene. We propose to further develop an optical method for near-real-time and accumulated naphthalene dose measurement that was succ

This proposal addresses the need for miniature deep UV light sources that operate at very low ambient temperatures without heating or temperature regulation for use in advanced in situ planetary science instruments involved in the reagent-less detection and identification of trace amounts of… More

Naphthalene has been identified as a serious health hazard for personnel working with JP8 and other fuels containing naphthalene. We proposed to develop a method for real time and accumulated dose measurement of exposure to naphthalene. The proposed method would employ a cell-phone-size naphthalene… More

We propose to demonstrate feasibility of a hand-held, fully self-contained, submersible, real-time, reagentless sensor weighing less than 10 lbs submerged and capable of rapid detection and classification/recognition of trace concentrations of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and… More

This proposal addresses the need to increase the probability of detection (PD) and reduce the probability of false alarm (PFa) for non-contact, real-time sensors for trace levels of biological and chemical targets using simultaneous detection of Raman and fluorescence emissions. Raman… More

This Phase II proposal is to develop a miniature, low power consumption, fused deep UV Raman and native fluorescence (DUV-RF) 1 meter stand-off sensor. The proposed instrument has an enhanced ability to measure the spatial distribution of chemical species containing C/N/H/O/S/Cl, and water, ice, and… More

This proposal addresses the need for miniature, narrow-linewidth, deep UV optical sources that operate at very low ambient temperatures for use in advanced in situ planetary science instruments for non-contact detection and classification of trace amounts of organic, inorganic, and biogenic… More

We propose to demonstrate feasibility of a hand-held, fully self-contained, real-time, reagentless, submersible sensor which is neutrally buoyant when submerged and weighing less than 20 lbs in air, including internal batteries. The sensor integrates into a single unit: 1) a deep UV laser based,… More

This proposal addresses the need to increase the probability of detection (PD) and reduce the probability of false alarm (Pfa) for non-contact, real-time sensors for trace levels of biological and chemical targets using simultaneous detection of Raman and fluorescence emissions. Raman… More

We propose to develop a coke-can-size, 250 g, 400 mW instrument for mounting on small lander or rover arms: the ultra-Compact Optical Spectrometer for Organic Mapping (?COSOM) instrument. Two core technologies enable the proposed instrument: a narrow linewidth, 235 nm, deep UV (DUV) semiconductor… More