PARTICULATES AND AEROSOLS

PULSED LASER HOLOGRAPHY HAS BEEN SHOWN TO BE A SUPERB TOOL FOR CAPTURING AND ANALYZING DYNAMIC PARTICLE FIELDS. HOWEVER, COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE HOLOGRAPHIC CAMERAS ARE LARGE, HEAVY, BULKY, AND EXPENSIVE. PRELIMINARY WORK BY THEAUTHOR HAS SHOWN THAT IT IS POSSIBLE TO BUILD A SMALL HOLOCAMERA UTILIZING A MINIATURE RUBY LASER POWERED BY BATTERY. IN THIS RESEARCH, BOTH THE LASER AND HOLOCAMERA WILL BE REFINED AND MINIATURIZED TO THE POINT THAT THE SYSTEM CAN BE USED FOR UNATTENDED REMOTE OPERATION. THE LASER WILL BE CAPABLE OF TRIPLE PULSING SO THAT PARTICLE SIZE, VELOCITY, AND ACCELERATION MAY BE MEASURED FROM THE HOLOGRAM. ALL THIS IN A PACKAGE WEIGHING 10 POUNDS AND OCCUPYING ABOUT ONE CUBIC FOOT. SUCH A SYSTEM WILL BE USEFUL FOR MONITORING DRY DEPOSITION OF PARTICULATES AND AEROSALS ON SURFACES OF VARIOUS TYPES BYSETTING IT FOR AUTOMATIC OPERATION ON THE SURFACE IN QUESTION. TIME-LAPSE TRIPLE-EXPOSURE HOLOGRAMS WILL PROVIDEA HISTORY OF SUCH DEPOSITION (AND RE-ENTRAINMENT), INCLUDINGPARTICLE SIZE, SHAPE, VELOCITY, AND ACCELERATION. AS WELL, SUCH A SYSTEM COULD COMPRISE PART OF THE PAYLOAD OF A BALLOON SO THAT CLOUD CHARACTERISTICS COULD BE STUDIED.