California Institute of Technology

United States of America As Represented by the Administrator of Nasa

Other

Mark S Anderson

George Spector

Douglas C Hofmann

Samad A Firdosy

Andre M Pate

Morgan Hendry

Christopher R Yahnker

Luis Phillipe Cf Tosi

A cutting tool with a cutting region and a connecting support region where the support region is designed to connect to an external motor assembly. The cutting tool is also has a porous region that is integrated within a portion of the tool such that as the tool cuts material the porous region can allow samples of the cut material to permeate into an internal chamber of the tool. Once in the internal chamber material samples can be analyzed in-situ for direct composition analysis.

Cutting tool with porous regions

An electride may provide surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). The electride, a compound where the electrons serve as anions, may be a ceramic electride, such as a conductive ceramic derived from mayenite, or an organic electride, for example. The textured electride surface or electride particles may strongly enhance the Raman scattering of organic or other Raman active analytes. This may also provide a sensitive method for monitoring the chemistry and electronic environment at the electride surface. The results are evidence of a new class of polariton (i.e., a surface electride-polariton resonance mechanism) that is analogous to the surface plasmon-polariton resonance that mediates conventional SERS.

Electride mediated surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)

Disclosed herein is a spectroscopic probe comprising at least one whispering gallery mode optical resonator disposed on a support, the whispering gallery mode optical resonator comprising a continuous outer surface having a cross section comprising a first diameter and a second diameter, wherein the first diameter is greater than the second diameter. A method of measuring a Raman spectrum and an Infra-red spectrum of an analyte using the spectroscopic probe is also disclosed.

Whispering gallery optical resonator spectroscopic probe and method

There is provided in one embodiment of the invention a method for analyzing a sample material using surface enhanced spectroscopy. The method comprises the steps of imaging the sample material with an atomic force microscope (AFM) to select an area of interest for analysis, depositing nanoparticles onto the area of interest with an AFM tip, illuminating the deposited nanoparticles with a spectrometer excitation beam, and disengaging the AFM tip and acquiring a localized surface enhanced spectrum. The method may further comprise the step of using the AFM tip to modulate the spectrometer excitation beam above the deposited nanoparticles to obtain improved sensitivity data and higher spatial resolution data from the sample material. The invention further comprises in one embodiment a system for analyzing a sample material using surface enhanced spectroscopy.

Method and system for near-field spectroscopy using targeted deposition of nanoparticles

An atomic force microscope (AFM) tip is used to selectively produce surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) for localized Raman spectroscopy. Spectra of thin films, undetectable with a Raman microprobe spectrometer alone, are readily acquired in contact with a suitably gold-coated AFM tip. Similarly, an AFM tip is used to remove sample layers at the nanometer scale and subsequently serve as a SERS substrate for ultra-trace analysis. This demonstrates the interface of an AFM with a Raman spectrometer that provides increases sensitivity, selectivity and spatial resolution over a conventional Raman microprobe. An AFM guiding the SERS effect has the potential for targeted single molecule spectroscopy.

Locally enhanced raman spectroscopy with an atomic force microscope

An automatic shotgun choke is provided which is attached to the muzzle of a shotgun barrel and can be adjusted manually by a device mounted within and extending from upper portion of the choke so as to selectively produce a choked and unchoked muzzle. In a modification gas pressure from a fired shell turns fan blades within the choke to operate a choking action upon a charge as it leaves the muzzle.

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La Crescenta, CA, United States of America

Mark S Anderson