Seminar: "High recognition specificity remote sensing of trace gases using IR/THz double resonance spectroscopy" By Dr. Henry Everitt, 6.2.16/12:00-1:00PM/CREOL RM 103

Seminar: "High recognition specificity remote sensing of trace gases using IR/THz double resonance spectroscopy" By Dr. Henry Everitt

Thursday, June 2, 2016 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM
CREOL Room 103

Dr. Henry Everitt (Army Aviation & Missile RD&E Center)
Research, Development, and Engineering Center
Redstone Arsenal, AL.

Abstract: 

Molecular rotational motion is quantized, just as its vibrational and electronic states are quantized. Molecular rotational energy levels depend sensitively on the shape of the molecule and the masses of the constituent atoms.  As a result, gas phase molecular rotational transitions, whose wavelengths are in the milIimeter and sub-millimeter region, provide signatures that allow chemical identification with exquisite selectivity.

This tutorial will review the basics of molecular spectroscopy, then explore its application for chemical sensing.  Specifically, a new double resonance spectroscopic technique will be described that exploits this remarkable specificity for remote chemical sensing.  The technique overcomes intrinsic limitations of atmospheric attenuation and collisional broadening that have hindered other approaches.  The hardware requirements and challenges for constructing such a spectrometer will be described.

Biography:

Dr. Henry O. Everitt is a member of the DoD senior executive service (ST) who serves as a chief scientist in the Army’s Aviation & Missile RD&E Center and is the Army’s principal subject matter expert in optical sciences.  He is an experimental physicist who specializes in the spectroscopic investigation of plasmonic nanostructures, wide bandgap semiconductors, gas phase molecular dynamics, and terahertz imaging.  

He received his Ph.D. in Physics from Duke Univ. in 1990, created major basic research initiatives in nanotechnology, engineered    electromagnetic structures, and quantum information at the Army Research Office, authored more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles, mentored more than 60 student researchers through various adjunct faculty appointments, and is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, Optical Society of America, and the Army Research Laboratory (Emeritus).

For additional information:

Dr. Martin Richardson
mcr@creol.ucf.edu