MIT News September 16, 2020
Researchers at MIT Lincoln Laboratory have developed Rapid Agent Aerosol Detector (RAAD) for the U.S. military’s early warning system for biological warfare agents. It pulls aerosol to cull out the small particles. NIR laser diode creates a structured trigger beam that detects the presence, size, and trajectory of an individual aerosol particle. If the aerosol article is roughly 1 to 10 micrometers a UV laser is activated to illuminate the particle. If the particle seems threat-like, it is vaporized to collect atomic emission to characterize the particle’s elemental content. The steps are integrated into a tiered system that provides seven measurements on each particle of interest. RADD is built to operate 24×7 for long periods. Because RAAD does not name the bioagent detected, further laboratory testing of the specimen would have to be done to determine its exact identity…read more.
The Rapid Agent Aerosol Detector was photographed with a 12-inch ruler to illustrate scale. Credit: Researchers.