High-Performance Optical Fiber-Based Meteorological Sensors

In the Phase I study, a protype instrument, the aerosolvaporization spectrometer (AVS)was evaluated for the ability toclassify airborne aerosol particles by their incandescentsignal. The instrument uses a diode pumped Nd:YAG laser at 1.06u wavelength to excite the particles. The scattering signal ismonitored from all particles, and black carbon particles absorbsufficient energy to incandesce, and this incandescence ismeasured by broadband and narrowband detectors. Particles otherthan black carbon will not incandesce, and they are identified bytheir scattering signal. The mass of the black carbon particlesis directly related to the intensity of the incandescencesignal. From the ratio of the scattering to the incandescencesignals, it appears possible to obtain information on the shapeof the particles. In the Phse II work, further testing will bedone on this instrument, and a rugged field ready unit will beconstructed.