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Novel Fiber
Sensors for Contaminant Monitoring Applications—Los Gatos Research,
Dr. Hong Jiao,
Principal Investigator, h.jiao@lgrinc.com
Dr. Anthony
O'Keefe, Business Official, a.okeefe@lgrinc.com
DOE Grant No.
DE-FG02-05ER84285
Amount: $99,985
Related
to the Department of Energy (DOE) responsibility to remediate nuclear weapons
sites, there is a need to characterize and monitor the soils, subsurface
sediments, and ground water in order to determine various contaminant
levels. In particular, new in situ technologies are urgently needed
to detect, monitor, and quantify gas or liquid contaminants in DOE tanks or DOE
landfills. This project seeks to address
this problem by using fiber-optics-based sensors, due to their simplicity,
miniature size, geometrical flexibility, and low cost. Moreover, their ruggedness enables their
possible deployment in harsh environments.
In Phase I, a novel
cavity-enhanced absorption technique known as Integrated Cavity Output
Spectroscopy (ICOS) will be employed to develop a novel fiber based sensor. The sensor will be used to record
concentration measurements of multiple gases including ammonia (NH3),
methane (CH4), and carbon dioxide (CO2) in DOE tanks or
landfills. Ultrahigh sensitivity (an
enhancement factor up to 10,000) is expected, along with increased accuracy,
repeatability, and specificity in real time.
Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: In addition to measuring ammonia, methane, and carbon dioxide, this highly sensitive fiber sensor should be extremely well suited for measuring CO2 and CO2 isotope ratio in atmospheric research, for monitoring CO and NO in power plants and chemical plants, and as a multi-species analyzer capable of measuring a wide range of environmentally significant species including nitrogen compounds, sulfur compounds, ammonia, and dioxins.