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17 Jun 2002
University of California, San Diego researchers have built a portable nerve-gas sensor using a diode laser and a silicon interferometer. The device is sensitive to G-type nerve agents, such as sarin and soman, and if used, could reduce the false-alarm rate for nerve gas detection.
Michael J Sailor will announce details of of the novel sensor at the 220th American Chemical Society in Washington, DC. It selectively detects molecules with a phosphorus-fluorine bond. In the device, a catalyst breaks down such compounds, which include the nerve gas sarin, to produce hydrogen fluoride gas. The silicon interferometer then measures a shift in the reflected laser light's frequency and intensity when hydrogen fluoride is present.
Because of its low cost, the sensor could be deployed in large numbers to detect and track nerve agents used in terrorist attacks - sarin was the nerve gas used in the 1995 Tokyo subway bombing.
Although Sailor is yet to test the sensor on nerve agents, he and his team have measured a structurally-related compound down a level of 800 parts per million. They plan to test the device on actual nerve gas samples at a military research laboratory later this year.
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