Historicalarchived

Remote Fiber Optic Sensors for Gaseous and Liquid Environments Based on Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy

OFFICE OF NAVAL RESEARCH

Raman spectroscopy provides a unique fingerprint of the vibrational modes of a substance, and is similar to infrared spectroscopy in this regard. However, unlike infrared, Raman employs visible or near-infrared laser light to address the sample that is efficiently transmitted over conventional silica optical fibers. Cables up to 200 meters long have been employed with limited signal loss. This capability is a result of a compact sampling probe with microoptical components, developed and patented by EIC Laboratories. The RamanProbe™ probehead eliminates Raman scattering originating from the silica fiber optics and completely filters the laser wavelength prior to detection. A further feature of this probe is that it focuses the laser light several millimeters past the probe tip. This allows high quality Raman spectra to be obtained through the walls of transparent and translucent containers with little interference from the container materials themselves (e.g., glass, polyethylene, brown glass, etc.).

Applications

Military and Commercial Significance:
Identification of unknown and hazardous chemicals
in sealed bottles
On-site identification of chemical agents and toxic
industrial chemicals in various sample formats,
including spills in water and on equipment surfaces
Real time monitoring of chemical reactions using
industrial immersion probes
Quality control measurements in chemical and
pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities
In situ detection and identification of corrosion within
pipes and heat exchangers
Using special Surface Enhanced Raman techniques,
detection and identification of highly dilute
chemicals in air and water
The highly compact and versatile field portable
RamanProbe™ instruments are used by DoD for
a variety of chemical identification and analysis
tasks. Using EIC’s RamanProbe™ and Raman
spectroscopy together permits the collection of a
wide range of high quality Raman spectra
samples. Tethering the sampling head to a
flexible fiber optical cable facilitates the capturing
of spectra located in difficult areas.

Provenance

Original: https://dodtechmatch.com/dod/successstories/view.aspx?id=60056
Archived copy: Wayback Machine snapshot

This record was recovered from a public web archive of dodtechmatch.com and is preserved for historical reference. It may be outdated. Not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Defense. Contact details from the original listing have been withheld.