title: Measuring atomic emission from beacons for long-distance chemical signaling.
abstract: In an effort to exploit chemistry for information science, we have constructed a system to send a message powered by a combustion reaction. Our system uses the thermal excitation of alkali metals to transmit an encoded signal over long distances. A message is transmitted by burning a methanol-soaked cotton string embedded with combinations of high, low, or zero levels of potassium, rubidium, and/or cesium ions. By measuring the intensities at the characteristic emission wavelengths of each metal in the near-infrared, 19 unique signals can be distinguished. We have built a custom telescope to detect these signals from 1 km away for nearly 10 min. The signal is isotropic, is self-powered, and has a low background. A potential application of this platform is for search and rescue signaling where another layer of information can be transmitted, in addition to the location of the beacon. This work, which seeks to encode and transmit information using chemistry instead of electronics, is part of the new field of "infochemistry".
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Bard College , P.O. Box 5000, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York 12504, United States.
authors.forename: Christopher N
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: LaFratta
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pelse
authors.forename: Jose Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Falla
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Manuel A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Palacios
authors.forename: Mael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Manesse
authors.forename: George M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Whitesides
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Walt