title: Chamber lidar measurements of biological aerosols.
abstract: In order to determine the performance of standoff sensors against agents, there is a need to develop methods to characterize the optical properties of biological warfare agents. The goal of this work is to develop a methodology that would allow the characterization of agent optical cross sections from the UV to the longwave IR. The present work demonstrates an optical measurement architecture based on lidar technology, allowing the measurement of backscatter and depolarization ratio from biological aerosols (either simulants or agents) released in a refereed, 1m3chamber. Measured results on simulant materials are calibrated and compared to theoretical simulations of the cross sections.
authors.affiliation: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland 20723, USA. david.m.brown@jhuapl.edu
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Evan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Thrush
authors.forename: Michael E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Thomas
mesh_terms: D000336:Aerosols; D054045:Biological Warfare Agents; D004867:Equipment Design; D055620:Optical Phenomena; D055095:Optics and Photonics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D000336:Aerosols; D054045:Biological Warfare Agents