Abstract: A plastic particle detector for detecting biological and other fluorescent materials is disclosed. The detector detects the fluorescence and scattering signals from these materials using deep UV excitation. The detector is fabricated using plastic materials and exploits the properties of lower manufacturing costs, lower materials costs, light weight, ruggedness and assembly ease offered by plastics, while eliminating stray fluorescence signals ordinarily generated by plastic materials.

Abstract: Embodiments of present invention are directed to near infrared (IR) laser-induced vibrational absorption systems and methods for material detection. According to one embodiment, a system for detecting materials may include: at least one laser configured to output light in the near IR spectrum so as to excite at least one vibrational overtone frequency, at least one combination band frequency, or a combination thereof, of a sample comprised of one or more of materials; a detector configured to detect a physical phenomenon of the sample in response to laser excitation; and an analyzer configured to the analyze the detected physical phenomenon and to identify the one or more materials based comparison of the detected signatures with known signatures of one more materials.

Abstract: A laser energy sensor and methodology for measuring laser energy in a laser beam by photoacoustic means. Laser energy is converted into acoustic energy which is then measured and converted to an energy reading corresponding to the energy of a laser beam.

Abstract: A biological aerosol detector is provided. The biological aerosol detector uses a semiconductor optical source with an ultraviolet emission band to excite biological molecules in an aerosol sample. Filtering optics are configured to attenuate radiation from a secondary emission band of the optical source to prevent false signals due to scattering of secondary emission band radiation from non-biological molecules. An intake/exhaust manifold that includes an intake pipe that fits within a concentric exhaust pipe is also provided. The intake/exhaust manifold planarizes the flow of the sampled aerosol to maximize the time of irradiation. An electrostatic sampling grid is also provided to selectively draw biological molecules having a net charge into the optical chamber.

Abstract: A method for generating a synthetic data signal is described. A synthetic data signal having any desired duration is generated from a data signal and a background signal of shorter duration. The duration of the background signal is extended by sampling the background signal at random times and for random durations. The sampled background signal is used to extend the background signal. Event data is identified from the data signal. The extended background signal is randomly populated with event data randomly sampled from the data signal to generate the synthetic data signal.