Chemical Sensors and Radiation Detectors
Radiation detection
New high resolution, room temperature gamma radiation spectrometers and
large area neutron detectors are urgently needed in national defense
and homeland security applications. Our research focuses on new
strategies and advanced materials for radiation detection. The
following are some of our active programs:
Microwave-based gamma-ray spectrometer:
Under sponsorship from the US Department of Homeland Security, Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) and in collaboration with colleagues at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SPAWAR) we are developing a new gamma radiation detector, which uses microwave photons instead of electrons to detect gamma-ray interactions within a semiconductor.High pressure Xenon detectors:
Under sponsorship from the U.S. Department of Energy and in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Michigan, we are developing high resolution, room temperature gamma-ray spectrometers based on highly purified and compressed xenon doped with trace amounts of hydrogen.Solid state neutron detectors:
Under sponsorship from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and in collaboration with colleagues at SPAWAR we are developing a new class of solid state neutron detector based on semiconducting polymer nanofibers incorporating boron as the neutron sensitive component.Spintronic gamma-ray detector:
Under sponsorship from DNDO and in collaboration with colleagues at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Sentor Technologies Inc. and Dr. Bandyopadhyay in the electrical engineering department, we are developing the world’s first gamma-ray spectrometer incorporating spintronic components to enhance the performance capabilities.
Chemical sensing:
Biological organisms obtain information on their environment through
five sensory inputs: sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. Man-made
optical, acoustic and force measurement systems provide performance
capabilities far exceeding those found in biological systems. Current
chemical sensing devices, by contrast, are still in a nascent stage and
cannot compete with the sophistication and performance of their
biological counterparts such as the canine olfactory system. We believe
that nanotechnology is the key to developing chemical sensors with
performance approaching or exceeding that of a biological system. The
following are some of our active research programs in this area:
Surface acoustic wave sensor arrays:
Under sponsorship from DTRA and in collaboration with colleagues at Constellation Technology Corporation, we are developing nanoscale polymer sensor coatings on surface acoustic wave microsensor arrays using a technique known as Rapid Expansion of Supercritical Solutions (RESS)Fluorescence detection of uranium in soil:
Under sponsorship from the National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) and in collaboration with colleagues in the VCU Department of Biology and the US Army, we are developing strategies and novel chemical enhancers to detect trace quantities of uranium in a soil matrix using standoff fluorescence.Chemiresistor sensor arrays
Under DoD sponsorship and in collaboration with colleagues at Sentor Technologies Inc. we are developing chemical sensor arrays based on electrospun polymer composite fibers interfaced with a microchip for signal transduction.