NEW AND IMMERGING TECHNOLOGIES HAVE MADE POSSIBLE THE DEVELOPMENT OF A "POCKET-SIZED, INFRARED SPECTROPHOTOMETER.

NEW AND IMMERGING TECHNOLOGIES HAVE MADE POSSIBLE THE DEVELOPMENT OF A "POCKET-SIZED, INFRARED SPECTROPHOTOMETER. SUCH AN INSTRUMENT WOULD HAVE APPLICATION IN THE ACCURATE AND RELIABLE REAL-TIME DETECTION OF BIOLOGICAL AND TOXIN AEROSOLS. OPCOA PROPOSES TO USE MICROELECTRONICS AND MICRO-OPTICS TO REDUCE THE SIZE AND POWER REQUIREMENTS CONVENTIONAL IR SPECTROPHOTOMETERS AND DEVELOP A "SECOND GENERATION" INSTRUMENT. OPCOA HAS FOUR (4) BASIC TECHNICAL OBJECTIVES IN PHASE I OF THIS PROPOSAL: (1) DESIGN AN ELECTRONICALLY TUNABLE, PIEZOELECTRIC, FABRY-PEROT FILTER FOR PRODUCING A NARROW-BAND IR SPECTRUM. (2) EXPERIMENTALLY DEMONSTRATE THE EVANESCENT FIELD OF A HELICAL CONFIGURATION OF IR OPTICAL FIBER WILL ACT AS A SUITABLE IR ABSORBTION PATH. (3) SPECIFY A SEMI CONDUCTOR DETECTOR/SOLID STATE COOLER COMBINATION FOR OPTIMIZED IR SPECTROPHOTOMETER PERFORMANCE. (4) APPLY MICROPROCESSOR, DATA ANALYSIS SOFTWARE TO BOTH AUTOMATICALLY CONTROL AND ENHANCE PERFORMANCE OF THE IR SPECTROPHOTOMETER. SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF PHASE I WILL FACILITATE FABRICATION OF A BRASSBOARD MODEL.