SUGV-Integrated Non-Contact Deep UV Biochemical Agent Surface Detector (UVBASD)

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 detection and rough classification of trace amounts of biological and organic materials. Photon Systems has used this technique to demonstrate detection of single spores at a working distance of 30cm. Higher levels of classification specificity can be obtained using deep UV resonance Raman spectroscopy (UVRRS), with similar levels of sensitivity to surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), although the sensitivity is less than UVLINF. We propose an advanced, robot-mounted, electro-optical instrument that combines UVLINF and UVRRS for non-contact detection and classification of trace concentrations of biological and chemical agents while requiring no consumables or sample preparation and producing no waste products. At the heart of this instrument is a deep UV laser consuming less than 5W of battery power that simultaneously generates Raman scattering and excites native of fluorophores contained within microorganisms and many organic and inorganic materials. Using an onboard real-time algorithm the UVLINF and UVRRS data are processed to identify and classify contaminants in less than 1 second.