SBIR-STTR Award

Laser & Plasma Technologies (LPT), teamed with the National Science Foundation (NSF) Center for Lasers at the University of Virginia (UVA), proposes an advanced optical fiber coupled hybrid spectroscope for in situ characterization of organic compounds. The proposed approach provides information on organic compounds by analyzing spectra obtained from Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) and Raman Spectroscopy (Raman) with a novel approach of using a single pulsed laser. The hybrid spectroscope yields elemental compositions from LIBS and molecular information from Raman strongly complement each other. The use of optical fibers offers advantages of small, light, and flexibility for various NASA planetary missions. An innovative laser beam scanning head provides an ultra-compact solution to achieve 1D or 2D raster scanning from a robotic arm. LPT has extensive expertise in material detection and monitoring by optical sensing technologies. The expertise combined with LPT's core competencies in advanced laser micromachining and optical sensing, provides a solid foundation to achieve the goal of this project. A Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 4 is anticipated by the end of the Phase I project.

Potential NASA Commercial Applications:
(Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words) The technology development in this project directly addresses NASA's needs of increasing instrument resolution, precision and sensitivity for planetary missions. The proposed technology is designed for in situ characterization of organic compounds at real time with advantages of compact, light, low power (SWaP) and flexibility. This technology also can be used other NASA space and ground programs for chemical detection and monitoring. Addition to characterization of organic compounds, the technology can be used to detect other element composites. Most importantly, the proposed approach offers a flexible and low cost scheme to ensure the accurate, reliability, and integrity to planetary mission success.

Potential NON-NASA Commercial Applications:
(Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words) The low-cost of the technology will help the technology enter the commercial, military, and industrial markets. The proposed technologies could be directly applied to similar applications operated by other government and commercial enterprises. For example, industries can benefit from chemical monitoring, environmental protection can benefit from chemical detection and contamination monitoring, medical applications can benefit from biomarker tracking, and military can benefit from detection of explosive materials and chemical agents.

Technology Taxonomy Mapping:
(NASA's technology taxonomy has been developed by the SBIR-STTR program to disseminate awareness of proposed and awarded R/R&D in the agency. It is a listing of over 100 technologies, sorted into broad categories, of interest to NASA.) Analytical Instruments (Solid, Liquid, Gas, Plasma, Energy; see also Sensors) Composites Infrared Lasers (Measuring/Sensing) Optical Optical/Photonic (see also Photonics) Organics/Biomaterials/Hybrids Ultraviolet Visible

NASA has supported several instrument development efforts for exploration of Mars other extraterrestrial bodies.This exemplifies the importance of new instrument development efforts for successful advancement of NASA missions.With this in mind Laser&Plasma Technologies successfully demonstrated feasibility of integrating LIBS&Raman instruments into Optical Based Hybrid Spectroscope that meets NASAs desire for targeted elemental and compound determination.Through Phase II efforts this unique hybrid instrument will have lightweight compact design amenable for integration into a Mars Rover type platform that the head of the instrument can be positioned by the Rovers robotic arm to the target of interest while data is sent to the main unit within the body of the rover for analysis & storage.For future manned missions,the hybrid instrument may enable recognition of important elemental minerals for mining and compounds that may be used for locally sourced agriculture. Another application is collection of fluorescent data, allowing NASA to explore biological compounds that may be present in Martian soils in minute quantities.Major advantages of a dual instrument include more rapid and accurate data collection from precise targets,minimal damage to substrate materials & avoidance of switching between different systems.In addition to benefits in NASA missions,this novel instrument may improve target identification, compositional measurement in market currently utilizing standalone spectroscopy such metal recycling,chemical processing,archeology, mining operations,historical art pharmaceuticals medical research others.This system also has applications for the DoD where the high laser intensity LIBS aspect of the instrument could inspect and then drill through coatings to analyze subsurface targets, providing valuable infrastructure data on coatings and subsurface corrosion as well as other metallurgical data Potential NASA Applications NASA has a desire to explore other planets moons to assess the composition of such extraterrestrial bodies.NASA has supported several efforts in the area of Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy LIBS to perform elemental analysis and has expressed desire to incorporate Raman Spectroscopy functionality to perform compound analysis.LPT is proposing to further advance the Phase1 development efforts of Optical Fiber Based Hybrid Spectroscope to develop this technology into compact robust instrument that can be used on Mars type Rover for extraterrestrial exploration.Instrument design will be structurally amenable for integration into Mars Rover type of platform enable rapid acquisition of both types of data from single target location. LPT has developed the methodology such that the head of the instrument can be positioned by the Rover’s robotic arm to the target of interest.This feature may provide opportunity for the high laser intensity LIBS aspect of instrument to both inspect then drill through clean surfaces to analyze subsurface targets.Another application for the proposed instrument is for collection of fluorescent data.Fluorescent data collection can benefit NASA in the exploration biological compounds that may be present in Martian soils in minute quantities.In addition the presence of water fluorescence and Raman spectra can give indications of moisture related processes in rocks &soil Potential Non-NASA Applications Standalone Raman,LIBS systems are used in a variety of industries, including metal recycling,chemical processing archeology mining operations historical art harmaceuticals medical research others.These systems also have potential applications in infrastructure health monitoring.The key for successful introduction of an Optical Based Hybrid Spectroscope into these markets is to demonstrate the major advantages a dual instrument can provide.These advantages include more rapid and accurate data collection of both types of spectra from precise targets minimal damage to substrate materials & avoidance of time consuming switching between 2 different commercial systems.The Hybrid spectroscope provides features that are desirable for DOD application,where the high laser intensity LIBS aspect of instrument could inspect then drill through coatings to analyze subsurface targets. The LIBS & Raman features at the target location allow the instrument to provide infrastructure data on coating subsurface corrosion as well as metallurgical data.It could benefit military depot operation to implement novel spectroscope for analysis of paint composition & degradation of composite chemical bond.Proposed instrument to improve the bottom line for target identification compositional measurements in markets while the lightweight compact design form will aid a greater variety of applications