Introducing depolarisation into an inexpensive simple cloud sensor for standoff aerosol detection

Rebecca J. Hopkins; Joseph W. Jones; Stephen J. Barrington; Virginia Foot; Karen L. Baxter

doi:10.1117/12.790420

29 April 2008 Introducing depolarisation into an inexpensive simple cloud sensor for standoff aerosol detection

Rebecca J. Hopkins, Joseph W. Jones, Stephen J. Barrington, Virginia Foot, Karen L. Baxter

Proceedings Volume 6972, Polarization: Measurement, Analysis, and Remote Sensing VIII; 697212 (2008) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.790420
Event: SPIE Defense and Security Symposium, 2008, Orlando, Florida, United States

Abstract

Light detection and ranging (LIDAR) has potential to be a successful technique for remote detection of airborne biological warfare agents (BWA) that pose a health hazard. Potential techniques for detecting BWA often use spectroscopy to probe molecular structure properties (e.g. UV-fluorescence, Raman and differential absorption spectroscopy). An alternative approach is to differentiate BWA from background interferents by their differing morphology; depolarisation offers one such method. Here, we investigate the feasibility of introducing depolarisation into a short range (approximately 10 m) LIDAR designed to be a simple, inexpensive, low power consumption, portable instrument. T-matrix calculations are presented for a randomly oriented, polydisperse size distribution of Bacillus atrophaeus spheroids. The relationship between backscatter depolarisation and particle aspect ratio is investigated at several incident wavelengths corresponding to those produced by low cost, commercially available laser sources. Through a series of simulations, we determine the best combination of wavelengths for a multi-wavelength instrument design that exploits the concept of normalised depolarisation to determine particle aspect ratio, with the possibility of facilitating BWA detection.

Citation Download Citation

Rebecca J. Hopkins, Joseph W. Jones, Stephen J. Barrington, Virginia Foot, and Karen L. Baxter "Introducing depolarisation into an inexpensive simple cloud sensor for standoff aerosol detection", Proc. SPIE 6972, Polarization: Measurement, Analysis, and Remote Sensing VIII, 697212 (29 April 2008); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.790420

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