Automated trace gas molecular analyzer using rotational spectroscopy

Design of a custom chirped-pulse Fourier transform (CP-FT) mm-wave rotational spectrometer to meet the chemical analysis needs of the ARMY will be informed by current BrightSpec instrumentation which includes a CP-FT spectrometer operating in either the 260-290 GHz or 530-580 GHz frequency range. The 260"290 GHz spectrometer uses recently developed segmented CP-FT techniques coupled with high-throughput signal digitizers to achieve real-time, broadband spectrum acquisition performance. The key components are: 1) the high speed arbitrary waveform generator (AWG) capable of creating tailored waveforms (pulses) for spectrum acquisition and analysis, 2) high-power active multiplier chains (AMC) used for generating the millimeter/submillimeter excitation pulse and the low noise heterodyne receiver, 3) high-speed, 8-bit signal PCI digitizer with FPGA accumulator for real time signal averaging enabling a near 100% measurement duty cycle.