Ultra-Responsive Thermal Sensors for the Detection of Explosives Using Calorimetric Spectroscopy (CalSpec)

We have developed a novel chemical detection technique based on infrared micro-calorimetric spectroscopy that can be used to identify the presence of trace amounts of very low vapor pressure target compounds. Unlike numerous recently developed low-cost sensor approaches, the selectivity is derived from the unique differential temperature spectrum and does not require the questionable reliability of highly selective coatings to achieve the required specificity. This is accomplished by obtaining the infrared micro-calorimetric absorption spectrum of a small number of molecules absorbed on the surface of a thermal detector after illumination through a scanning monochromator. We have obtained infrared micro-calorimetric spectra for explosives such as TNT over the wavelength region 2.5 to 14.5 Mu-m. Thus both sophisticated and relatively crude explosive compounds and components are detectable with these ultra-sensitive thermal-mechanical micro-structures. In addition to the above mentioned spectroscopy technique and associated data, the development of these advanced thermal detectors is also presented in detail