Remote Detection of Atmospherically Dispersed Vegetative Cells Using Fluorescence Lidar

Abstract

A lidar system based on ultraviolet (UV) laser induced fluorescence (LIF) has been developed for the remote detection of atmospherically dispersed biological particles, such as the vegetative cells of bacillus thuringiensis (BT) and bacillus globiggi (BG) released from an aerosol generator. The main goal of this work is to investigate the research issues associated with the long range detection and identification of these biological materials using fluorescence lidar. In particular, we are interested in extending the detection range of a solar-blind 248-nm lidar system demonstrated (with a range of 1-km or so) in previous field experiments1. To ensure favorable atmospheric light transmission characteristics in longer range detection, we are using excitation laser wavelengths > 290-nm (i.e. at wavelengths above that of ozone absorption).