Multiplexed Optical Nanosensors For Military Sensing Applications

By Dr. Ashwin Sampathkumar, Riverside Research

Detecting chemical and biological agents across the battlespace

Chemical and biological weapons are common in the present-day threat continuum and continue to pose an enduring global threat. The basic science of threat sensing and recognition requires a fundamental understanding of materials that demonstrate measurable changes when stimulated by energy, molecules, or particles from chemical and biological agents. In addition, advancing technologies to protect life-sustaining resources and to defeat threat agents is of paramount importance. Innovative sensing plays a major role in identifying and defeating these global threats. Nanotechnology is an emerging threat detection field that makes use of the unique characteristics of devices engineered at tiny scales to develop highly sensitive and effective threat sensors. Nanosensors can be easily integrated into existing threat surveillance and reconaissance technology like drones, LIDAR, and wearable sensors for warfighters, and they provide additional information for threat recognition.

Nano-electromechanical systems (NEMS) may be one of the most promising types of nanodevices for threat detection and neutralization. With the microelectronics industry pushing the frontier of device fabrication deep into the submicron range, NEMS have received a great deal of attention in recent years. NEMS offer the potential for a wide array of applications — from ultrasensitive mass and force sensing to imaging and quantum information computing. The development of distributed NEMS arrays operating in concert is pivotal for all of these emerging sensing, imaging, and data processing technologies.