PROGRAMMABLE, PARTICLE SIZING SENSOR

PARTICLE CONTAMINAMTS AFFEST THE PERFORMANCE OF SPACE PLATFORMS. THESE PARTICLES ARE EXPECTED TO RANGE BETWEEN 0.5UM AND 10UM IN DIAMETER AND THEIR CONCENTRATION AND COMPOSITION MAY BE DIVERSE AND UNKNOWN. A PARTICLE SIZING INSTRUMENT IS BEING DEVELOPED TO DETERMINE THE SIZE AND SPACE DISTRIBUTION OF THIS ILL-DEFINED PARTICLE CLOUD. A 45 MW DIODE LASER IS USED TO MAKE A LIGHT WEIGHT INSTRUMENT WHICH CORRELATES SCATTERED LIGHT TO PARTICLE SIZE. BY COLLECTING FORWARD SCATTERED LIGHT, THE SIGNAL IS DEPENDENT ONLY ON PARTICLE SIZE OVER A BROAD RANGE OF REFRACTIVE INDICES (INSENSITIVE TO MATERIAL TYPE) AND DIFFERENT PARTICLE SHAPES. A VARIABLE APERTURE ALLOWS ADAPTING THE PROBE AREA TO OPTIMIZE INSTRUMENT PERFORMANCE FOR A GIVEN PARTICLE CONCENTRATION. SOFTWARE DEVELOPED AT METROLASER AVOIDS THE DEAD TIME FOUND IN OTHER INSTRUMENTS OF THIS TYPE, THUS PREVENTING THE LOSS OF DATA. THE FINAL DESIGN WILL BE A LIGHT WEIGHT COMPACT INSTRUMENT WHICH IS ADAPTIVE TO THE UNKNOWN SPACE ENVIRONMENT.