In-situ and instantaneous detection of aerosolized chemical threats using chip-scale mass spectrometry

In-situ and instantaneous detection of aerosolized chemical matter is paramount to swiftly and accurately counter terrorism acts, industrial accidents, and environmental disasters. Aerosol chemical threats pose a significant danger due to the extended range of distance these nanometers (nm) to micrometers (μm) scale particulates can travel with the wind vector without dilution. Detect-ION is developing a versatile chemical threat detection platform that would collect, detect, and identify such aerosolized matter ranging in size from 20 nm to 20 μm. The detector platform, called “SPECTRAL,” comprises three novel low-SWaP subsystems, namely an aerosol collection stage, a low-thermal-mass (LTM) gas chromatograph (GC), and a novel chip-scale mass spectrometer (MS) developed via prior IARPA funding, integrated together in a battery operated ⁓10-L form factor. Detect-ION will present the prototype development efforts, as well as the aerosol collection and detection performance for a broad range of chemical threat classes as defined by IARPA in the PICARD program.