AN ADVANCED FLUORESCENCE SENSOR FOR PROCESS CONTROL

THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN ADVANCED FREQUENCY-AGILE SENSOR FOR ON-LINE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF FLUORESCENT SPECIES IN PROCESS STREAMS IS THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT. THIS SENSOR IS BASED ON THE INNOVATIVE USE OF TUNABLE ACOUSTO-OPTIC FILTERS TO ACHIEVE RANDOM-ACCESS WAVELENGTH SELECTION WITH MICROSECOND SWITCHING TIME, HIGH OPTICAL THROUGHPUT FOR ENHANCED SENSITIVITY, AND HIGH SPECTRAL RESOLUTION FOR ACCURATE MEASUREMENTS WITH HIGH BACKGROUND DISCRIMINATION. THE SENSOR WILL BE COMPACT, RUGGED, AND SUITABLE FOR DEPLOYMENT IN HARSH INDUSTRIAL ENVIRONMENTS. IN PHASE I, A RUGGED PROTOTYPE DEVICE IS BEING BUILT AND TESTED BY MONITORING A MODEL ORGANIC COMPOUND. IF SUCCESSFUL, THE PROPOSED TECHNOLOGY WILL BRING TO ON-LINE, REAL-TIME SENSING, SOPHISTICATED SPECTRAL ANALYSIS NOW AVAILABLE ONLY OFFSITE IN THE LABORATORY WITH A VERY SLOW TURNAROUND TIME FOR RESULTS.