Novel Polymer Microfluidics Technology for In Situ Planetary Exploration

Los Gatos Research proposes to develop a novel microfluidic device that combines rigid monolithic porous polymer based micro-capillary electrochromatography (microCEC) with ultra-high sensitive UV laser induced fluorescence (LIF)optical detection capable of accurately measuring concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) molecules. This novel device is ultra-compact and light weight with low power consumption, ideally suited for NASA planetary science applications such as analyzing complex organic molecules on Mars, Titan and elsewhere in the solar system. Specifically for the Phase II work, we will design and fabricate a microfluidic prototype that offers vast improvements over current PAH separation methods as well as significant enhancements over the current detection sensitivities. The overall objective entails integrating this microfluidics technology with NASA miniaturized scientific instrumentation program, thereby significantly enhancing NASA organic compound separation capability. In addition this Phase II work will be performed in parallel with efforts to develop micorfluidics devices for the commercial analytical markets.