July 2010

Tony Gomez joins Southwest Sciences

We are pleased to announce that Tony Gomez has joined Southwest Sciences as a Senior Research Scientist.  Dr. Gomez comes to SWS from a postdoctoral position at Sandia National Laboratory, Livermore. He received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from UC Irvine in 2007. 

July 2010

R&D 100 Award

LI-COR Biosciences and Southwest Sciences have been awarded a 2010 R&D 100 Award for joint development of the LI-7700 Open Path Methane Monitor.

July 2010

Three SBIR Phase 1 grants were awarded to Southwest Sciences by the Department of Energy

Self-Calibrating Balloon-Borne Methane Gas Sensor for a low cost, low power diode laser instrument for high precision methane concentration measurements aboard balloon sondes for climate change studies will be developed in this project.

Instrumentation for Measurement of Atmospheric Nitric Acid for a new optical sensor platform that will provide a significant advance in the development of rugged, portable instrumentation for airborne measurement of nitric acid or other gases important in climate change.

Robust Spectrometer for Carbon Isotope Ratio  Measurements for an instrument capable of providing in situ, accurate quantification of both carbon dioxide concentration and carbon isotope ratio of carbon dioxide.  The goal is to provide real-time monitoring of carbon dioxide sources and sinks in the biosphere and atmosphere.

January 2010

The NIH has awarded Southwest Sciences an SBIR Phase I grant for Time-resolved measurements of breath hydrogen sulfide

Hydrogen sulfide in breath can be an important indicator of gastrointestinal illness including colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, and Crohn’s disease.  This project focuses on the development of a rapid, optical method for measuring hydrogen sulfide concentrations in individual exhaled breaths.

January 2010

NASA awards two Phase I SBIR projects to Southwest Sciences

NASA awarded two SBIR Phase I contracts to Southwest Sciences. The first project will show the feasibility of using gas filter correlation (GFC) spectroscopy using non-periodic gratings for spaceborne and airborne deployment. This innovative technical approach will result in smaller, lighter weight, lower power, and more rugged instrumentation than is possible using established GFC spectrometers. The approach is based on the development of non-periodic diffraction gratings that replace the reference gas cells used in GFC spectrometers. Steve Massick will lead the investigation.

The second project targets the development of a rugged, compact, and low power instrument for high sensitivity measurement of tropospheric carbon monoxide (CO).  Phase I efforts will address the feasibility of measuring CO to a precision of 10 parts-per-billion or better over a range of tropospheric temperatures, pressures, and humidity. Successful development through Phase II should allow NASA to adopt a single high-reliability system for measurement of CO using a wide variety of platforms (e.g. aircraft, balloons, ground-based network, etc.).

Oct 2009

NASA Funds development of new instrument to measure greenhouse gases

Understanding the sources and sinks of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases has been recognized as critical to predicting climate change and global warming. In this SBIR program, Southwest Sciences is developing a lightweight, inexpensive greenhouse gas sensor. A novel measurement technique will allow the sensor to provide dry air mixing ratios of CO2 without the need for concurrent measurements of temperature, pressure or moisture. The sensor will be used on UAV, balloon, and aircraft platforms. Measurements of the precise variations of carbon dioxide as a function of altitude have been tremendously difficult, and this sensor will allow more widespread measurements than currently possible. Joel Silver is the Principal Investigator.

September 2009

Southwest Sciences works with UC Berkeley to develop magnetometer for physics experiment

Southwest Sciences will lead a project to develop a magnetometer for the neutron electric dipole moment (nEDM) experiment. The nEDM experiment uses crossed magnetic and electric fields to measure a possible electric dipole associated with the neutron, testing fundamental theories of matter. To achieve high sensitivity, the experiment needs very precise and homogeneous magnetic fields. Southwest Sciences is teaming with the Budker group at Berkeley to develop an instrument based on nonlinear magneto-optical resonance. The PI is Chris Hovde.

July 2009

DOE selects Southwest Sciences to investigate greenhouse gases and non-destructive testing

The Department of Energy has chosen Southwest Sciences to conduct two research and development projects. One project will develop a rugged laser source that can be used for making high-resolution measurements of carbon dioxide. The PI is Chris Hovde. The second project uses optical diagnostics to improve the ceramic thermal barrier coatings on advanced turbine. Kris Peterson is the project leader.

April 2009

Air Force awards three SBIR Phase I projects to Southwest Sciences

The Air Force has selected Southwest Sciences for three research and development projects.

• Southwest Sciences is developing optical coherence tomography (OCT) as a method to inspect for cracks or defects in silicon nitride ceramic bearing balls used in gas turbine aircraft engines. This approach is nondestructive, doesn't require fluorescent dyes, and can even detect defects below the surface. In this feasibility study, parameters important to OCT's application to defect detection in silicon nitride ceramics will be investigated, including optimal light wavelength, depth of penetration, resolution, and imaging speed. This project is led by Kris Peterson.
• The Air Force is experimenting with pulsed detonation engines. These engines use fast fuel injection and rapid mixing of fuel and oxidizer, giving them the potential to achieve higher efficiency and lower costs than scramjets or turbines. Optimizing these engines requires high-speed (~10 kHz) measurements of combustion species concentrations and distributions. Optical, non-contacting diagnostics are prefered because they don't change the combustion process or flow field. Southwest Sciences is developing a novel optical diagnostic based on frequency modulation spectroscopy. For more information contact Alan Stanton.
• Scramjet engines are important for high-performance military applications. Optimizing the performance of a scramjet engine requires an accurate model of combustion and fluid dynamics. Southwest Sciences is assisting the Air Force in this effort by developing a specialized instrument that can detect species concentrations, temperatures and mass flow through the scramjet engine flowpath. The project, led by Shin-Juh Chen, uses our proprietary Lock-In Detector Array (LIDA) together with diode laser absorption spectroscopy, which will allow for a compact airbone instrument. Making quantitative measurements in-flight avoids the complications with interpreting wind tunnel tests. Shin-Juh Chen leads this project.

January 2009

Optics for improving combustion research

The green beam from a doubled Nd:YAG laser is used to excite Raman spectra in a flame. To increase the signal, the laser beam is directed through a small hole in one mirror into a nearly-concentric Herriott multipass cell. The beam bounces over one hundred times between the mirrors, always passing within a few millimeters of the center point. By moving the burner around this point, the temperature of the flame can be mapped.

The Air Force has selected Southwest Sciences for a Phase II STTR contract to continue development of optics to improve the signals from combustion measurements. Researchers at the Wright Laboratory use Raman spectroscopy to understand the effects electric fields have on flames. Raman spectroscopy can measure the temperatures of a flame without perturbing it. However, Raman spectroscopy is a weak effect, so signals are low. Increasing the laser power can increase the signal, but laser breakdown sets a limit on the improvement by this path. Dr. Joel Silver showed in a Phase I project that multipass optics can improve the ratio of signal to noise by at least a factor of 50. The optics create a tightly-knit pattern of laser beams at the center of a pair of mirrors. Each beam in the pattern contributes to the Raman signal. The system can also be used to enhance absorption signals in tunable diode laser spectroscopy measurements of species concentrations. The research team includes Dr. Philip Varghese of the University of Texas, who will compare temperature measurements taken with this system to more traditional Raman measurements. For more information, contact Joel Silver.

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