SBIR Phase I: A UAV Mounted Frequency Domain Terahertz Spectrometer for Real-Time, Location Specific, Pollution Detection

这一小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是创建一种经济、高性能的太赫兹(THz)光谱仪，安装在消费无人机或无人机(UAV)上，以便能够在特定地理位置测试空气中有害化合物的存在。频域太赫兹光谱仪能够表征气体样品中许多不同的分子和化学物质。在历史上，这些光谱仪由于其尺寸和复杂性而被降级到实验室。然而，最近的进步使制造一种可以安装在无人机上的轻型光谱仪成为可能。这一点意义重大，因为在当地分析样品的能力消除了收集和运送潜在危险化合物(即化学战剂或污染物)到实验室进行分析的时间和费用。它还允许在短时间内进行检测和分类，而不需要让人员受到当地环境的影响。拟议中的项目将展示一种紧凑型、电池供电的频域太赫兹光电光谱仪，它能够进行多普勒限制分子光谱，主要由高度紧凑、重量轻的经济现成光纤组件组成。黄铜板仪器将采用光学相位调制技术来消除相干检测的影响，它将具有大于2THz的带宽和高于100 kHz的光谱纯度。建成后，该仪器将用于测量二氧化碳与水蒸气混合时的多普勒受限分子跃迁。在成功展示该仪器的能力后，将产生重量不到3公斤并能够与消费类无人机一起携带的综合系统的初稿设计，以及该仪器的较大实验室版本。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to create an economical, high performance Terahertz (THz) spectrometer mounted to a consumer drone or Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to allow testing of air for the presence of harmful compounds over a specific geographical location. A frequency domain THz spectrometer is capable of characterizing many different molecules and chemicals in a gas sample. Historically these spectrometers have been relegated to the laboratory because of their size and complexity. However, recent advancements have made it possible to build a lightweight spectrometer that can be mounted to a drone. This is significant because the ability to analyze samples locally removes the time and expense of collecting and shipping potentially dangerous compounds (i.e. chemical warfare agents or pollutants) to a laboratory for analysis. It also allows detection and classification to occur on short notice and without the need to subject personnel to the local environment. The THz Drone will allow immediate and accurate detection of many harmful compounds in the air.The proposed project will demonstrate a compact, battery operated, frequency domain THz photomixing spectrometer that is capable of Doppler limited molecular spectroscopy and is constructed predominantly from economical off-the-shelf fiber optic components in a highly compact, light-weight form factor. The brass-board instrument will incorporate an optical phase-modulation technique to remove the effects of coherent detection and it will have a greater than 2 THz bandwidth with a spectral purity of better than 100 kHz. After construction, the instrument will be employed to measure Doppler limited molecular transitions of carbon dioxide mixed with water vapor. Upon the successful demonstration of the capabilities of the instrument, a first-draft design for an integrated system weighing less than 3 kg and capable of being carried with a consumer drone will be generated as will a larger laboratory version of the instrument.