DARPA and MIRTHE

For those new to the subject, I would suggest reading the following:

http://www.azooptics.com/Details.asp?NewsID=4162

and

http://www.laserfocusworld.com/display_article/365454/12/none/none/INDUS/DARPA-selects-Pranalytica-as-one-of-three-to-continue-development-of-high-efficiency-mid-IR-QCL

Last April, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, selected Pranalytica for a grant of $3.3 million to develop high power, efficient continuous-wave room temperature operational QCLs for use in directional infrared countermeasures. Such a device works by locking on to a heat-seeking missile, and then using the laser to guide the missile off course thereby protecting the aircraft. Such a device could be used for helicopters and military aircraft, as well as private aircraft which need to fly in dangerous areas. The program to develop the lasers used in the countermeasure is titled “EMIL,” or the “Efficent Mid-Infrared Laser” program.

There are several challenges to developing such a device, but the major challenge at this phase is to develop high-power QCLs to redirect the missiles. However, on the topic of high-powered laser development, Pranalytica issued the following statement: “Pranalytica has already developed a 3 Watt continuous wave room temperature laser running at over 10% WPE,” which approaches the goals of the DARPA project, to create lasers generating over 3W of output at 50% wall plug efficiency. The lasers being developed lie between the 3.8-4.8 micron range.

So the question is, what does this funding and technological progress mean for MIRTHE?

The MIRTHE Center is concerned with QCL based spectroscopy for applications in health and the environment. At this point in time, this means developing QCL based sensing devices for breath analysis, and developing QCL based sensors which can be networked to cover large areas.

The breakthroughs to develop high power QCLs will not significantly transform the work being done with environmental and medical sensors. In the case of environmental sensor networks, the sensing is generally done in the 1-10mW range with success. Using systems with higher wattage output would be an unwarranted drain on the batteries, meaning the devices would need more upkeep which no one wants. In the case of using medical sensors (or environmental sensors in urban environments, where the devices can be plugged in), the increase in power output could be beneficial, but not radically so.**

However, high power output of lasers could allow for new kinds of sensing to take place. While aqueous sensing is still a very challenging application, a QCL based LIDAR system could become a reality, opening the possibility for new kinds of atmospheric research. Essentially, a high power system allows for a range of uncooperative sensing applications beyond MIRTHE’s primary goals, generating a range of potential devices for chemical, biological, or explosive detection.

The breakthroughs in high efficiency, room temperature operable QCLs is very beneficial to MIRTHE’s program in environmental sensing. The success Pranalytica has been having with its 4.6 micron QCLs will be useful in making higher efficiency QCLs at many different wavenumbers. Higher efficiency lasers means less energy consumption for the laser, and less energy needing to feed the cooling systems supporting the laser. The progress in the efficiency of lasers means environmental sensor networks stationed in remote locations are becoming a greater possibility- the lower the power consumption of these devices, the longer they can last in the field and the more data they can collect. On the topic of breath analysis, greater efficiency of the devices means handheld breath analyzers could be used more frequently in areas where access to electricity is limited.

The final benefit to MIRHTE that is worth discussing is what would happen if the project succeeds and QCL based infrared countermeasures become a reality. If this is the case, developments would need to occur to allow for the mass production of QCLs. This would allow QCL manufacturers to invest in devices for automated laser testing and develop the facilities for greater laser production. This would bring down the costs of QCLs, making the devices MIRTHE wants to be commercialized cheaper.

It should be noted the DARPA project is not overcoming all the challenges facing QCL based sensors. Developing widely tunable, single mode QCLs is necessary to spectroscopic sensing, and MIRTHE will continue working on the challenges these traits hold. Also, much of what MIRTHE does is develop its sensor systems, which will not be carried out by the DARPA project.

Overall, the DARPA funding is very good news for QCL development, and good news for MIRTHE.

**This is if we are using a traditional detector for environmental sensing. With developments in QEPAS technology, higher power may be more necessary to achieve the sensing.

Sorry for the missing post last week...

I've been working on making a pretty significant posting where I try to discuss what DARPA's interest in QCLs means for the work MIRTHE does. It goes without saying this is a large topic, and a topic which I don't want to miss some of the elements of. I hope everyone who reads this blog isn't too disappointed, and I will have this topic posted this week or the following.

Also, this text from this will most likely be included in the Roadmap Report I am working on, so it can be seen as a "sneak preview" of what is to come...

2008 Conference Videos up on YouTube!

Well, there’s good news and bad news. The bad news is the video editing/capture/uploading takes a really long time, and I am still working on this. The good news is all one-hundred and thirty-two videos from the 2008 summer conference are up on youtube, and can be found on this site:

http://www.youtube.com/user/MIRTHE2008#grid/uploads.

While the videos were converting, I read “Poisoned Profits” by Philip Shabecoff. The book discusses the darker side of mankind’s use of manufactured chemicals and materials by detailing the damage these chemicals cause to our bodies, especially to children. While not the best written book, it does have a lot of good information, and it did lead me to the following website, www.healthandenvironment.org, where you can go under the CHE Toxicant and Disease Database, and see what exposure to trace chemicals and pollutants have on our health. Going through this database is pretty eye opening, and I think is a good resource to consider.

For those of you who are reading this, sorry these posts are pretty boring at this point- the videos are taking a lot of time, but I will say they turned out great, and will be an important resource to have.

Happy Friday,

Peter

Post-Conference Work Continues

This week continues where we are working to get the information presented at the 2009 Conference out to you all. I just finished filling in the MIRTHE Roadmap Powerpoint and it should be available in the near future (be sure to check out the “notes” sections where we include everything we said in the presentation and more!), and I am working on capturing, converting and editing the videos from this conference. Also, I am working on creating a youtube channel for MIRTHE, for the purpose of posting the 2008 videos.

There is still much to do for the roadmap. First, I want to start working on better defining the “first generation” sensors for applications in environmental monitoring, industrial process sensing, and uranium hexafluoride analysis. One of the areas where Kelsey and I struggled was in determining the gases needing to be detected in industrial processing, and other than natural gases or petroleum refining, determining which processes demand the ppm/ppb/ppt sensitivity which the QCLs can provide. I’d like to pose this question to anyone reading the blog, and please feel free to email me what you know or think (petervschram@gmail.com).

In other news, I have recently been in contact with an anesthesiologist who has been discussing the need for real-time detection of infections in the intensive care unit. He said how ventilator acquired pneumonia and sepsis are a significant dangers for those in the intensive care, and how early detection could prevent infection and death. The bacteria responsible for the infection produce nitric oxide, meaning a sensor which could detect NOx would be significant in these situations, especially if the detector is non-invasive. While there is no commonly accepted practice for monitoring the NOx in the blood, research physicians have been using intraperitoneal catheters to detect NOx, but these are very invasive and have their own shortcomings. This is just one other possibility for QCL based sensors for breath analysis. In the next step in the roadmap, I will be looking into applications within breath analysis like this: NOx as a gas is already being detected with our QCL sensors in environmental monitoring, so the next questions are a). could one laser occupy both types of sensors and b). if NOx is even the right gas to look for.

But for now, back to video editing…

Post-Conference/Flying Solo

(Written August 10^th, posted August 11^th)

I have now returned to the Princeton Engineering Quad to continue the task of Mid-IR Industry-Roadmapping, and Kelsey is off in New York taking part in the Take Dance Intensive then back to Princeton for her senior year. Needless to say, it was a pleasure working with her, and I know we accomplished much this summer due to her inquisitive nature and her hard work and dedication.

The MIRTHE conference in NYC was awesome- while I was certainly in over my head for a number of science talks, what was more important was the excitement of the students and industry members for this technology. Also, while Kelsey and I both understood there is still much work to be done, we were pleased with how responsive and enthusiastic the industry members and students were about our talk, and how open they were to helping us further the roadmap. Overall, it was a great experience.

In other news, today in Princeton there are both excessive heat warnings, and air quality alerts. After a summer of researching requirements for environmental sensing, and then last week in the high emphasis placed on environmental monitoring, I remembered one of the first things Claire said to me about MIRTHE. She told me how we take for granted the air we breathe is safe, and the environments we inhabit are not detrimental to our health. But, as we see today, this is not always the case. And, if we continue on in a “business as usual” model, or if we had in the past before the Clean Air Act, our atmosphere would not be safe and our society would be suffering a range of problems associated with high pollution levels. However, numerous regulations have been put in place, and today, America is a safer place because of this.

But there is still work to be done. If today in New Jersey is any indication, we still need help. Globally, America is far ahead of developing countries like China and India, where air quality and water quality are major problems. Furthermore, global warming is changing our climate in unpredictable and dangerous ways, and yet we are still pumping GHGs and toxins into our atmosphere at an unsustainable rate.

As James Butler said in his talk on supporting Greenhouse Gas Management Strategies, there is no real way to create effective regulation legislation without means to measure pollutant levels. One of the best parts of MIRTHE is in addition to forging the way in the fields of breath analysis, explosives detection and industrial process detection, MIRTHE does so while working to better understand climate and atmospheric changes which are so closely tied to the lives of human beings all over the planet. Because of the interconnectivity of the challenges QCL sensors, MIRTHE is able to work to monitor the environment AND contribute to many viable and lucrative fields.

And I think that’s pretty cool.

-Peter

Roadmapping: A Challenge and (we hope) a Solution

As we see it, one of the fundamental difficulties with constructing a technology roadmap for QCL sensors systems is that technology changes in unpredictable ways. This means it is challenging to define what exactly the components will look like in QCL sensors in ten years, because in ten years the detectors or optics or systems may resemble something which we would not have predicted today.

We therefore construct our roadmap as a goal-oriented plan. We know what the test sensors looked like in all the Thrust 5 (Applications and Testbeds) Projects. We also have spoken extensively with Claire Gmachl and a number of researchers and industry partners within MIRTHE, and they have expressed their goals for QCL development. Therefore our main goals are to identify what each device would look like for each application, and determine what its product specifications would be. As MIRTHE has hopes for QCL sensing in industrial processing, environmental monitoring, and homeland security, there are many unique devices which must be characterized, as, for example, a networked methane sensor to be deployed on a glacier would look very different from a device used in a doctor’s office used to measure exhaled ammonia. By knowing what these devices should look like and what their characteristics should be, we will present an endpoint for joint efforts of the MIRTHE Center’s research and the development by the Industry Partners. From there, we will do our best to “fill-in-the-blanks,” and try to identify the technical developments needed to arrive at the endpoint, and identify any intermediate products which could have commercial or research applications.

Q-C-Let us know!

Is it in the packaging?

With the unique capabilities of QCLs and the range of applications for their practical use, what will bring these lasers closer to wide-spread use in a variety of industries?

Peter and I have discussed the need for advancement in the packaging components of QCL based sensors. Consider a laser mount, optics devices, cooling capabilities (if necessary), an appropriate detector and the associated components: a universal design standardizing these components for applications can improve the sensor system.

With current test-runs of QCLs often relying upon custom-built, individual packaging systems, it is difficult to ensure consistent functionality. Perhaps some of this reliability could come from a package which is a guaranteed compliment to the laser and application in question. Could coupling a unique QCL technology with the universal packaging compliment transform a research device into a field-ready device?

From an engineer’s careful hands and the laboratory’s controlled environment, what brings reliable, durable QCL based sensors to industries and people both efficiently and inexpensively? Could it be in the packaging?