Advances in handheld FT-IR instrumentation

Josep Arnó; Len Cardillo; Kevin Judge; Maxim Frayer; Michael Frunzi; Paul Hetherington; Dustin Levy; Kyle Oberndorfer; Walter Perec; Terry Sauer; John Stein; Eric Zuidema

doi:10.1117/12.921052

17 May 2012 Advances in handheld FT-IR instrumentation

Josep Arnó, Len Cardillo, Kevin Judge, Maxim Frayer, Michael Frunzi, Paul Hetherington, Dustin Levy, Kyle Oberndorfer, Walter Perec, Terry Sauer, John Stein, Eric Zuidema

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 8374, Next-Generation Spectroscopic Technologies V; 837406 (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.921052
Event: SPIE Defense, Security, and Sensing, 2012, Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Abstract

FT-IR spectroscopy is the technology of choice to identify solid and liquid phase unknown samples. The challenges of ConOps (Concepts of Operation) in emergency response and military field applications require a significant redesign of the stationary FT-IR bench-top instruments typically used in laboratories. Specifically, field portable units require high levels of resistance against mechanical shock and chemical attack, ease of use in restrictive gear, quick and easy interpretation of results, and reduced size. In the last 20 years, FT-IR instruments have been re-engineered to fit in small suitcases for field portable use and recently further miniaturized for handheld operation. This article introduces the advances resulting from a project designed to overcome the challenges associated with miniaturizing FT-IR instruments. The project team developed a disturbance-corrected permanently aligned cube corner interferometer for improved robustness and optimized opto-mechanical design to maximize optical throughput and signal-to-noise ratios. Thermal management and heat flow were thoroughly modeled and studied to isolate sensitive components from heat sources and provide the widest temperature operation range. Similarly, extensive research on mechanical designs and compensation techniques to protect against shock and vibration will be discussed. A user interface was carefully created for military and emergency response applications to provide actionable information in a visual, intuitive format. Similar to the HazMatID family of products, state-of-the-art algorithms were used to quickly identify the chemical composition of complex samples based on the spectral information. This article includes an overview of the design considerations, tests results, and performance validation of the mechanical ruggedness, spectral, and thermal performance.

Citation Download Citation

Josep Arnó, Len Cardillo, Kevin Judge, Maxim Frayer, Michael Frunzi, Paul Hetherington, Dustin Levy, Kyle Oberndorfer, Walter Perec, Terry Sauer, John Stein, and Eric Zuidema "Advances in handheld FT-IR instrumentation", Proc. SPIE 8374, Next-Generation Spectroscopic Technologies V, 837406 (17 May 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.921052

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