Laser and environmental monitoring method
First Claim
1. A method of operating a system comprising:
- (a) emitting a transform limited laser beam pulse at a specimen;
(b) varying the shape of the transform limited laser beam pulse;
(c) detecting a mass spectrum using the varied shape transform limited laser beam pulse;
(d) automatically emitting multiple additional laser beam pulses of different pre-determined shapes after steps (a)-(c);
(e) automatically and electronically analyzing the detected mass spectrum and ranking them based on closeness to a target spectrum;
(f) repeating steps (d)-(e) to statistically improve detected values without inversion procedures; and
(g) ranking the likelihood that a compound has been detected and identified.
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Abstract
A laser and monitoring system is provided. In another aspect of the present invention, the system includes a laser, pulse shaper and detection device. A further aspect of the present invention employs a femtosecond laser and binary pulse shaping (BPS). Still another aspect of the present invention uses a laser beam pulse, a pulse shaper and a SHG crystal. In yet another aspect of the present invention, a multiphoton intrapulse interference phase scan (hereinafter “MIIPS”) method is used to characterize the spectral phase of femtosecond laser pulses and to correct them. A further aspect of the system of the present invention is employed to monitor environmental chemicals and biological agents, including toxins, explosives, and diseases.
281 Citations
49 Claims
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1. A method of operating a system comprising:
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(a) emitting a transform limited laser beam pulse at a specimen; (b) varying the shape of the transform limited laser beam pulse; (c) detecting a mass spectrum using the varied shape transform limited laser beam pulse; (d) automatically emitting multiple additional laser beam pulses of different pre-determined shapes after steps (a)-(c); (e) automatically and electronically analyzing the detected mass spectrum and ranking them based on closeness to a target spectrum; (f) repeating steps (d)-(e) to statistically improve detected values without inversion procedures; and (g) ranking the likelihood that a compound has been detected and identified. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of operating a building monitoring system comprising:
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(a) emitting a laser beam pulse of less than about 50 femtoseconds; (b) shaping the laser beam pulse; (c) detecting characteristics of an environmental agent in the building ventilation system in response to steps (a) and (b), without requiring iteration; (d) using a programmable controller to determine a characteristic of the agent, and positively identifying the agent, which was previously unknown to the controller if the agent is determined to be harmful; and (e) the preceding steps being performed without inversion procedures. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A method of operating a system comprising:
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(a) emitting six or less transform limited laser pulses of different pre-determined shapes at an environmental airborne specimen; (b) sensing characteristics of the airborne specimen acted upon by at least one of the pulses; (c) automatically determining if the airborne specimen is an acceptable agent or an undesirable agent; (d) using software instructions to access memory containing a library of characteristics of acceptable and undesirable environmental airborne specimens, and using software instructions to compare the real-time sensed characteristics to those stored in the memory; and (e) the preceding steps being free of inversion procedures. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A method of operating a system comprising:
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(a) emitting shaped laser pulses of different pre-determined shapes at a specimen with no iteration; (b) monitoring the specimen in a repetitive manner; (c) electronically comparing characteristics obtained in response to the pulse interaction with the specimen, to a library database of acceptable background characteristics; and (d) using a programmable controller to determine if an undesirable disease is present in the specimen and if so, identifying the disease. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A method of operating a system comprising:
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(a) emitting an initial transform limited laser beam pulse at a specimen in air outside of a laboratory; (b) detecting a mass spectrum using the transform limited laser beam pulse; (c) automatically emitting no more than six pre-determined shaped laser pulses after steps (a)-(b), free from an evolutionary learning program and without iteration; (d) detecting mass spectra using the no more than six pre-determined shaped laser pulses; (e) automatically and electronically analyzing the detected mass spectra and identifying the specimen; (f) performing the previous steps without inversion procedures; (g) storing the mass spectra in a memory library; (h) monitoring an environment of unknown chemicals; and (i) automatically determining which chemicals in the environment are acceptable and which are unacceptable. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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43. A method of operating a system comprising:
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(a) emitting different shaped laser pulses at possibly harmful specimens, the different shaped laser pulses being automatically chosen from shaped laser pulses previously stored in the memory of a controller; (b) monitoring the specimens with a transform limited laser pulse without requiring inversion procedures; (c) comparing mass spectra with the mass spectra of acceptable background chemicals; and (d) automatically identifying harmful items based at least in part on the mass spectrum comparisons. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
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Specification