NSF Award
8821649
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is in the general area of analytical chemistry and in the subfield of molecular spectroscopy. The goal of this activity is to develop a sensitive, stable, spectroscopic technique for the detection and quantification of gas phase molecular species. Gallium Arsenide Laser Line-Locked Absorption Spectroscopy (GALLS) uses a near infrared laser-diode which is actively locked to a molecular absorption line to monitor the concentration of that molecular species in a gas sample. This technique is species selective, sensitive, and can be used to monitor a large number of molecular species. During the tenure of Phase I research under NSF grant ISI-8760819, the principal investigator demonstrated continuous monitoring of atmospheric water vapor with a detection sensitivity of ten microabsorbance units and a dynamic range in excess of four orders of magnitude. Research in Phase II will lead to the production of a laboratory prototype instrument having improved sensitivity and stability. This device will be used to measure detailed spectrometric constants for water vapor and to demonstrate the sensitivity, accuracy, and precision of GALLS sensors for various monitoring applications. This research should lead to the development of a new class of remote sensors for the real-time monitoring of gas phase species concentrations in hostile environments.
