UV fluorescence lidar detection of bioaerosols
- Army Edgewood Research, Development and Engineering Center, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD (United States)
- Science and Technology Corp., Hampton, VA (United States)
Biological agents (e.g. bacterial spores, viruses, toxins) pose a serious threat to military forces on the modern battlefield. Remote detection of these agents is crucial to providing early warning of an attack and to allow for the avoidance of contaminated areas. Here, a UV fluorescence lidar system for the remote detection of bioaerosols has been built and tested. At the heart of the UV-LIDAR Fluorosensor system are a 200mJ quadrupled ND:YAG laser at 266nm and a 16 inch cassagrain telescope. Operating on three data collection channels, the UV lidar is capable of real time monitoring of 266nm elastic backscatter, the total fluorescence between 300 and 400nm, and the dispersed fluorescence spectrum (using a small spectrograph and gated intensified CCD array). The goal in this effort was to assess the capabilities of biofluorescence for quantitative detection and discrimination of bioaerosols. To this end, the UV-LIDAR Fluorosensor system was tested against the aerosolized bacterial spore Bacillus subtilus var. niger sp. globiggi (BG) and several likely interferences at several ranges from approximately 600 to 3000 meters. The tests with BG indicate a detection limit of approximately 500 mg/cubic meter at a range of 3000m.
- OSTI ID:
- 231053
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-940449--; ISBN 0-8194-1526-X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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