SUBMICRON PARTICLE ANALYSER

A PROGRAM IS PROPOSED TO ESTABLISH THE DESIGN AND OPERATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF A REALTIME SUBMICRON PARTICLE ANALYSER. THE ANALYSER IS BASED ON THE EARLIER CONFIRMED CONCEPT OF SIMUTANEOUSLY MEASURING CERTAIN SPECIFIED OPTICAL OBSERVABLES OF INDIVIDUAL AEROSOL PARTICLES AS THE STREAM ONE-AT-A-TIME THROUGH A LOW POWER POLARIZED LASER BEAM. USING COMPACT, COMPUTER- STORED SUMMARIES OF THESE OBSERVABLES, PARTICLES ARE IDENTIFIED AS TO SIZE, SHAPE, AND REFRACTIVE INDEX AT RATES UP TO 20000\MIN. KEY DESIGN PARAMETERS INCLUDE LOW POWER REQUIREMENTS, RUGGED CONSTRUCTION AND LOW WEIGHT. BOTH EXPERIMENTAL AND THEORETICAL OPTICAL OBESERVABLES FOR VARIOUS TYPES OF SUBMICRON PARTICLES STRUCTURES WILL BE USED TO TEST THE INSTRUMENT DESIGN AND SOME SAMPLE HANDLING MEASUREMENTS PERFORMED FABRICATION OF A BREADBOARD SYSTEM FOR PHASE II FUNDING IS PROPOSED.