Developing next generation portable sensing instrumentation

Unisearch Associates Inc.是一家研发公司，也是一家专业仪器制造商，位于多伦多北部的康科德。基于其服务市场的需求和未来的发展计划，Unisearch对多伦多大学在拉曼光谱领域进行的研究非常感兴趣。由于其无与伦比的化学特性，拉曼光谱是最有前途的研发领域之一，用于解决便携式解决方案，在工业和环境环境中检测、识别和监测(DIM)大量化合物。 特别是，在德克萨斯大学Helmy博士的团队中，最近的一项技术发展导致了一种最佳解决方案，通过使用有助于更有效地收集包含拉曼信号的散射光的创新光学设计，将拉曼信号的灵敏度提高了数量级。通过这种方式，可以使用现有的拉曼系统与这种低成本的附加组件一起执行液体和气体的拉曼分析，这种附加组件要求样品体积降至纳升范围。 拉曼测量仪器方面的这些发展与Unisearch目前和未来关于其产品组合的扩展计划非常一致。因此，他们要求通过与赫尔米小组建立伙伴关系来建立联合工作，以帮助在赫尔米小组开展的光流体研究的基础上开发下一代传感仪器。这将有利于户外和工业环境中环境化合物的传感和监测仪器。该项目旨在利用最近发展的光流控芯片技术创新，实现一个用于检测、识别和测量化合物的高性价比手持设备平台。Helmy博士团队中发明的设计将进一步开发，以适应便携式形状因数传感系统(用于拉曼和FTIR)，具有足够的灵敏度，以满足Unisearch感兴趣的许多市场感兴趣的各种应用。

Unisearch Associates Inc. is a Research & Development company and a specialty instrument manufacturer located in Concord, north of Toronto. Based on the demand of the markets it services and its future development plans, Unisearch is extremely interested in the research carried out at the University of Toronto in the field of Raman spectroscopy. Because of it's unparalleled chemical specificity, Raman spectroscopy is one of the most promising R&D areas to address man-portable solutions for detecting, identifying and monitoring (DIM) a large spectrum of chemical compounds in both industrial and environmental settings. In particular, a recent technical development in Dr Helmy's group at U of T has led to an optimum solution to enhance the sensitivity of the Raman signal by orders of magnitude by using an innovative optical design that aids in more efficient collection of the scattered light containing the Raman signal. In this way it becomes possible to perform Raman analysis of liquids and gases using existing Raman systems in conjunction with this low-cost add-on component that requires sample volumes down to the nano-litre range. These developments in the instrumentation of Raman measurements are extremely well aligned with Unisearch's present and future expansion plans with respect to their product portfolio. As such they have requested to set up joint work through starting a partnership with the Helmy group to help develop the next generation sensing instrumentation based on the opto-fluidic research his group carries out. This would benefit instrumentation for the sensing and monitoring of environmental compounds in outdoor and industrial settings. The project aims to utilize the recently developed innovations in opto-fluidic chip technologies to realize a platform for cost-effective handheld equipment for detection, identification and measurement of chemical compounds. The designs invented in Dr Helmy's group will be further developed to suite a portable form factor sensing system (for both Raman and FTIR) with sufficient sensitivity for the various applications of interest to a number of markets that are of interest to Unisearch.