Abstract: An apparatus is provided for identifying trace amounts of substances of interest in an air flow. The apparatus includes an inlet for receiving the air flow and an outlet for exhausting major portions of the air flow. The outlet is offset from the inlet. A porous impactor is disposed in alignment with the inlet and is impacted by particles entrained in the air flow. The porous impactor is heated sufficiently to vaporize particles impinging thereon. A detector communicates with the porous impactor and is operative for identifying substances of interest in the vaporized particles.

Abstract: An apparatus is provided for identifying trace amounts of substances of interest in an air flow. The apparatus includes an inlet for receiving the air flow and an outlet for exhausting major portions of the air flow. The outlet is offset from the inlet. A porous impactor is disposed in alignment with the inlet and is impacted by particles entrained in the air flow. The porous impactor is heated sufficiently to vaporize particles impinging thereon. A detector communicates with the porous impactor and is operative for identifying substances of interest in the vaporized particles.

Abstract: A cargo inspection apparatus for the inspection of an analyte carried by a medium is disclosed. The apparatus includes a housing having an inlet allowing for entry of the medium and an outlet allowing for exit of the medium, and an adsorber disposed within the housing in fluid communication with the medium flow from the inlet to the outlet, the adsorber includes a substrate having disposed thereon a nanoparticle film. The nanoparticle film has nanoparticles having an average particle size of equal to or less than about 500 nanometers.

Abstract: A uniform temperature reference block for connection with the cold reference terminations of thermocouples inserted into a plurality of cavities in the block using a novel thermally conducting bridging bar having an electrically insulating covering and a corresponding plurality of electrically conducting uninsulated projections secured at successive spaced points of the bar along the insulating covering thereof and parallely extending transversely from the bar for inserting within the block cavities.

Abstract: A method of producing a high angular resolution collimator implemented in an inspection system for detecting the presence of selected crystalline materials, such as explosives or drugs. The system includes an x-ray source and an array of energy dispersive detectors to sense radiation scattered by the objects being inspected. The collimator includes a bundle of optical fibers bonded together to form a stack of plates having a plurality of microcapillaries therein to pass an x-ray beam therethrough. The method includes the steps of stacking the plates, aligning the plates in registration, and etching an inner core without disrupting registration.