RTI: Acquisition of a Broadband Spectrometer to be Integrated into an Interdisciplinary Atomic Emission Spectroscopy Facility

将获得的设备将使我们的实验室进行跨学科的研究。 它将使我们能够对生物医学标本进行灵敏的测量，并迅速识别有害细菌。 具体来说，我们将获得一个光谱仪，以分析由高功率脉冲激光产生的火花发出的光。 当强大的激光脉冲聚焦到一些目标材料上的一个非常紧密的点时，激光脉冲的难以置信的能量将材料一个原子一个原子地撕裂，产生看起来像一个小火花塞火花的东西。 这些火花就像微型闪电一样，非常炎热且充满活力。 这些火花发出的光包含了关于哪些原子和分子构成目标材料的信息。 这个过程很容易控制，几乎可以在任何材料上产生火花。 这使得它成为一个非常强大和有吸引力的工具，用于快速和轻松地确定未知目标的组成。 通过向含有细菌的样本发射激光并分析发出的光，我们可以唯一地识别细菌。 这种实时检测和识别细菌病原体的能力在人类健康的许多方面都很重要，包括临床医学和医院，执法和急救社区，食品和饮料污染监测以及饮用水/游泳水清洁和安全。 所有加拿大人都将受益于这种快速技术的实施，以保护他们免受有害细菌的侵害，或在他们受到感染时得到快速诊断。 沿着在医疗情况下识别有害的细菌病原体，我们现在还试图分析生物医学标本（如血液或尿液），并在一个非常重要的农业应用中从温室中产生。 通过提高作物产量，即使是轻微的，加拿大人将大大受益于较低的粮食价格的形式。 最后，通过在温莎培训使用这类设备的高素质人员，我们正在培养加拿大科学家和研究人员在开发这一令人兴奋的新科学技术方面发挥主导作用，并能够设计、建造和使用下一代高技术设备。

The equipment to be acquired will enable interdisciplinary research studies in our laboratory. It will allow us to make sensitive measurements of biomedical specimens and rapidly identify harmful bacteria. Specifically, we will acquire an optical spectrometer to analyze the light emitted by sparks that are created with a high-power pulsed laser. When the powerful pulse of laser light is focused to a very tight spot on some target material, the incredible energy of the laser pulse rips the material apart atom by atom, creating what looks like a small spark-plug spark. These sparks are like miniature lightning bolts and are very hot and energetic. The light emitted by these sparks contains information about which atoms and molecules made up the target material. This process is easy to control and the spark can be created on almost any material. This makes it a very powerful and attractive tool for rapidly and easily determining the composition of an unknown target. By firing the laser at a specimen which contains bacteria and analyzing the light given off, we can uniquely identify the bacteria. This ability to detect and identify bacterial pathogens in real-time is important in many facets of human health, including clinical medicine and in hospitals, in the law-enforcement and first-responder communities, in food and beverage contamination monitoring, and in drinking/swimming water cleanliness and safety. All Canadians would benefit from the implementation of this rapid technology to protect them from exposure to harmful bacteria or for rapid diagnosis if they were infected. Along with identifying harmful bacterial pathogens in medical situations, we also are now attempting to analyze biomedical specimens (like blood or urine) and also produce from greenhouses in a very important agricultural application. By improving crop yields even slightly, Canadians would greatly benefit in the form of lower food prices. Lastly, by training highly-qualified personnel in the use of this type of equipment in Windsor, we are preparing Canadian scientists and researchers to play a lead role in the development of this exciting new scientific technique and to be able to design, build, and utilize the next generation of high-technology apparatus.