High Speed Planar Array Infrared PA-IR Spectrograph

描述(由申请人提供)： 最近，首席调查员的实验室开发了一种新的红外(IR)光谱分析方法。PA-IR使用焦平面阵列(FPA)探测器，棱镜或光栅将分散的光束聚焦到该探测器上。像素阵列上同时显示的大范围频率使其成为一种多路复用技术，而无需使用FT-IR干涉测量中使用的复杂扫描机制或计算要求(用于数据的傅里叶变换)。因此，PA-IR仪器的不可移动部件配置提供了所需的坚固性，使仪器具有“鞋盒”大小，从而便于携带。此外，FPA的更高灵敏度(比单元素FT-IR探测器高100-1000倍)可以提供在短短10微秒内积累的红外光谱。唯一的电流限制来自可用的频率范围(3400-2000厘米[-1])，这是因为在原型开发过程中最初只有铟-锑FPA可用。 这项建议是设计和建造一种便携式的“宽带”PA-IR仪器，它工作在更传统的IR“指纹”区域(2000-800厘米[-1])，因为汞-镉-碲化物FPA已经上市，并表明它具有体内疾病预测/诊断的灵敏度和速度。如果PA-IR仪器与红外光纤采样探头相结合，应该可以表征晶状体中的眼组织。这种光纤PA-IR技术与目前用于眼科诊断的传统动态光散射(DLS)系统相比的优势在于，PA-IR将提供各种成分(IV型胶原蛋白、伽马晶体蛋白等)的化学特征。同时存在于“实时”领域，潜在地允许对组件进行定性和定量分析。例如，PA-IR将允许检测蛋白质聚集(二聚体、低聚物)，并能够检测蛋白质中α-螺旋、β-折叠或无序构象的量的变化，从而在蛋白质颗粒变得足够大以通过DLS检测之前非常早期地检测到白内障的发生。一旦这种“宽带”PA-IR被证明具有高灵敏度，那么其他应用，如监测医院环境中空气传播细菌和病毒的存在也变得可行。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Recently a new paradigm for doing infrared (IR) spectroscopy was developed in the Principal Investigator's (Pl's) laboratory. PA-IR uses a focal plane array (FPA) detector onto which a beam of light dispersed by a prism or grating is focused. The broad range of frequencies displayed on the pixel array simultaneously make this a multiplex technique without using the complex scanning mechanism or computational requirements (for Fourier transformation of the data) used in FT-IR interferometry. Thus the no-moving parts configuration of the PA-IR instrument provides the ruggedness required to make the instrument the size of a "shoe-box" and hence portable. In addition the increased sensitivity (100-1000X over single element FT-IR detectors) of the FPA can provide an IR spectrum to be accumulated in as little as 10 microseconds. The only current limitation comes from the frequency range available (3400-2000 cm[-1]) due to the initial availability of only indium-antimonide FPAs during the development of the prototype. This proposal is to design and construct a portable "broad band" PA-IR instrument that works in the more traditional IR "fingerprint" region (2000-800 cm [-1]) now that Mercury-Cadmium-Telluride FPAs are commercially available and show that it has the sensitivity and speed for in vivo disease prediction/diagnosis. If the PA-IR instrument is coupled with an IR fiber optic sampling probe, it should be possible to characterize ocular tissues in the lens. The advantage of this fiber optic PA-IR technique over conventional dynamic light scattering (DLS) systems currently in use for eye diagnostics is that PA-IR will provide a chemical signature of the various components (collagen IV, gamma-crystallin, etc.) present simultaneously in the "real-time" domain potentially allowing both qualitative and quantitative analysis of the components. For example, PA-IR would allow the detection of protein aggregation (dimers, oligomers) and be able to detect changes in the amount of alpha-helical, beta-sheet or disordered conformation in a protein thereby detecting the onset of cataracts at a very early stage before protein particles become large enough to be detected by DLS. Once this "broad Band" PA-IR is shown to have high sensitivity then other applications such as monitoring the presence of airborne bacteria and viruses in hospital environments becomes feasible as well.