Chemical aerosol detection using femtosecond laser pulses

Dennis R. Alexander; Mark L. Rohlfs; John C. Stauffer

doi:10.1117/12.280931

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23 July 1997 Chemical aerosol detection using femtosecond laser pulses

Dennis R. Alexander, Mark L. Rohlfs, John C. Stauffer

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Proceedings Volume 3082, Electro-Optical Technology for Remote Chemical Detection and Identification II; (1997) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.280931
Event: AeroSense '97, 1997, Orlando, FL, United States

Abstract

Many chemical warfare agents are dispersed as small aerosol particles. In the past, most electro-optical excitation and detection schemes have used continuous or pulsed lasers with pulse lengths ranging from nanoseconds to microseconds. In this paper, we present interesting ongoing new results on femtosecond imaging and on the time dependent solutions to the scattering problem of a femtosecond laser pulse interacting with a single small aerosol particle. Results are presented for various incident pulse lengths. Experimental imaging results using femtosecond pulses indicate that the diffraction rings present when using nanosecond laser pulses for imaging are greatly reduced when femtosecond laser pulses are used. Results are presented in terms of the internal fields as a function of time and the optical size parameter.

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Dennis R. Alexander, Mark L. Rohlfs, and John C. Stauffer "Chemical aerosol detection using femtosecond laser pulses", Proc. SPIE 3082, Electro-Optical Technology for Remote Chemical Detection and Identification II, (23 July 1997); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.280931

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