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Setting up a mobile Lidar (DIAL) system for detecting chemical warfare agents

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2015 Laser Phys. 25 035701

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 Astro Ltd Laser Physics

Laser Phys. 25 (2015) 035701 (5pp) doi:10.1088/1054-660X/25/3/035701

Setting up a mobile Lidar (DIAL) system

for detecting chemical warfare agents
MKavoshTehrani1, MMalekMohammad2, EJaafari1,3 and AMobashery1
1
Optics and Laser Research Institute, Malek Ashtar University of Technology, Shahin Shahr, Iran
2
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Isfahan, Hezar Jerib St., Isfahan
81764-73441, Iran
3
Institute of Bahonar, Technical and Vocational University, Tehran, Iran

E-mail: jaafari39@yahoo.com

Received 14 December 2014

Accepted for publication 26 December 2014
Published 4 February 2015

Abstract
The mobile light detection and ranging DIAL system of Malek Ashtar University of
Technology has been developed for the detection of chemical warfare agents whose absorption
wavelengths are in the range of 9.210.8m tunable CO2 lasers of the system. In this paper,
this system is first described and then ammonia detection is analyzed experimentally. Also,
experimental results of detecting a sarin agent simulant, dimethylmethyl phosphonate
(DMMP), are presented. The power levels received from different ranges to detect specific
concentrations of NH3 and DMMP have been measured and debated. The primary test results
with a 150ns clipped pulse width by passive pinhole plasma shutter indicate that the system
is capable of monitoring several species of pollutants in the range of about 1km, with a 20m
spatial and 2min temporal resolution.

Keywords: Lidar, detection, warfare agents

(Some figures may appear in colour only in the online journal)

1.Introduction
Light detection and ranging (Lidar) uses the same principle as
Radar (radio detection and ranging). It transmits light to a tar-
get, and the transmitted light interacts with the target. Some of
this light is reflected or scattered back to the instrument where
it is analyzed. The change in the properties of the light enables
some properties of the target to be determined. The time taken
for the light to travel back to the Lidar is used to determine the
range to the target.
The main tool for profiling aerosols and discriminating
between different layers in the atmosphere is the Lidar sys-
tem [13]. In addition, Lidar techniques are useful for remote
monitoring of ambient air, 3D mapping of pollutants, natu-
ral emissions due to various geographical phenomena (vol-
canoes), measurement of meteorological parameters such as
temperature and wind speed, monitoring of leaks in natural
gas pipelines and warning systems for chemical warfare gases
in the atmosphere [36].
The use of chemical and biological warfare (CBW) agents
against civilian and military by terrorists and rogue countries
is very frequent these days, and Lidar is the only realistic
method for standoff CBW agent detection today, using lasers
as excitation sources [79]. Differential absorption Lidar
(DIAL) is one of the best systems used to measure chemi-
cal concentrations such as ozone, water vapor, SO2 and NO2
in the atmosphere [1013]. Moreover, mobile DIAL systems
allow us to perform analyses in different areas [1418]. A
DIAL method uses two different laser wavelengths which are
selected so that one of them (on) is absorbed by the molecule
of interest whilst the other (off) is not. The difference in inten-
sity of the return signals can be used to deduce the concentra-
tion of the molecule being investigated.
In the Optics and Laser Research Institute of Malek
Ashtar University of Technology (OLRI MUT), we have
been working on the project, Development of passive
plasma shutter (PPS) mobile DIAL system for the detection
of chemical warfare agents. The project involves setting up
a mobile DIAL system with the design and manufacture of
some of the components of the Lidar system and improving
its efficiency for detecting chemical agent gases. In the first
phase, the system has been employed for the detection of

1054-660X/15/035701+5$33.00 1 2015 Astro Ltd Printed in the UK

Laser Phys. 25 (2015) 035701 M K Tehrani et al

Figure 3. Schematic block diagram of ORLI DIAL lidar, where

1 and 2 are power supply, 3 and 4 are passive pinhole plasma
shutters, 5 and 6 are HeNe lasers, 7 is an uncooled detector, 8 is an
amplifier and 9 is a cooled detector.

Figure 1. OLRI mobile DIAL system.

Table 1. Specifications of the OLRI DIAL system.

Parameter Specification
Transmitter
Laser transmitter Two tunable TEA- CO2
Wavelength range 9.210.8m
Tuning resolution 0.01m
Peak power 1MW
Pulse repetition rate 1/3Hz
Unclipped pulse width 1.5s
Clipped pulse width 150ns
Beam area 21.8cm
Beam divergence 2.4mrad
Pinhole radius 1.8mm
Receiver
Figure 2. Passive pinhole plasma shutter photo, 1pinhole metal Cassegrain telescope T DALL- KIR- KHAM
plate, 2pinhole metal plate holder, 3 & 4set screws, and 5base. Diameter 50cm
Spectral range 511m
Scanner mirror area 5074cm
backscattered signals from the atmosphere and in the sec- Deg in azimuth 360
ond phase, the system was tested for the detection of NH3 Deg in elevation 15
molecules by locating the test cell at a remote distance. In Scanning resolution 30
the next phase, the system was employed for the detection of Detector
DMMP (a simulant for the nerve agent sarin) and measure- Uncooled detector (HgCdTe) MCT
Diameter of the detector 1mm
ment of its concentration.
Detectivity (D*) 1.5106(cm.Hz1/2W1)
Sampling rate 100MHz
2. DIAL equationfor concentration of the pollution Cooled detector (HgCdTe) MCT
Work temperature 77K
The DIAL technique involves two laser wavelengths. One Diameter of the detector 1mm
overlaps with the strong absorption features of the species Detectivity (D*) 3.21010(cm.Hz1/2W1)
of interest, whilst the other corresponds to a minimum of Detectivity threshold 108W
absorption. When the laser pulses are emitted in two different Sampling rate 10MHz
Spectral range 811m
wavelengths in the atmosphere, the attenuation of the laser
pulse with the wavelength is higher than the wavelength. A
portion of the laser pulse covered by both wavelengths, which
are scattered by molecules of gases (Rayleigh scattering) and receiver area, range, volume backscattering coefficient,
by aerosols (Mie scattering), is returned to the DIAL system probability of return pulse reaching the detector from a tar-
and detected by a cooled detector. By choosing the two wave- get, absorption cross-section and the concentration of gas. If
lengths at a very close interval, then we can eliminate the scat- only the known absorption cross-section for the gas of inter-
tering from other particles and aerosols [19]. est varies when the wavelength of the transmitted laser pulse
The intensity of the received signal depends on many is changed from on to wavelength off, then the concentra-
factors including laser pulse duration and energy, effective tion, N, of the pollutant (number of molecules/m3) averaged

2
Laser Phys. 25 (2015) 035701 M K Tehrani et al

Figure 4.(a) Unclipped laser pulse and (b) clipped laser pulse by pinhole plasma shutter.

Figure 5. Detection of backscattered signals from the atmosphere.

over the range cell (R = R2 R1) is computed using the
DIAL equation[10],
1 PT( on ) PR(off )
 N= ln
2 ( ) (R ) PT( off ) PR(on )
where PT(on ) and PT(off ) are the laser transmitted powers at on
and off, respectively; PR(on ) and PR(off ) are the return power at
on and off, respectively; and = on off is the difference
of absorption cross-sections of the measured pollutant at the
wavelengths on and off.
3. Description of the experimental mobile setup
OLRI DIAL system
The entire DIAL system operated by OLRI is housed in a
mobile laboratory; 7m long, 2.5m wide and 3m high, shown
in figure1.
This system is capable of detecting a large number of
atmospheric pollutants whose absorption wavelengths are in
the range of 9.210.8m (such as NH3, SO2, NO2, O3, DIMP,
DMMP). The system can be powered by a 1KW on-board
generator. The system consists of a transmitter, a receiver, two
passive plasma shutters, two detectors and a desktop com-
puter. The transmitter consists of two tunable (9.210.8m)
transversely excited atmospheric (TEA) CO2 lasers, which
are used as two sources of radiation with a repetition rate of
(1)
1/3Hz, and two passive pinhole plasma shutters to clip pulse
duration, designed and fabricated as in figure2.
The setup of the pinhole plasma shutter consists a converg-
ing mirror, pinhole metal (aluminum) plate, and a collimating
mirror mounted on an optical rail.
The laser beam is reflected from the converging mirror, and
passes through creating plasma at the pinhole located at the
focal mirror, and the diverging pulse is collimated by another
mirror. The interaction of the laser pulse with surface pinhole
metal plate causes lateral expansion of the plasma, rendering
the pinhole opaque to the laser and cutting the laser pulse tail
after it passes the pinhole [2022].
The schematic block diagram of the experimental system
is shown in figure3 and specifications of the DIAL system are
given in table1.
The clipped pulse duration is varied by sliding the pin-
hole back and forth along the optical axis. In this manner,
the nitrogen tail of the TEA CO2 laser beam is clipped, as
shown in figure4. The laser can be tuned on nearly 70 lines

3
Laser Phys. 25 (2015) 035701
Figure 6. Measurement NH3 concentration curve on 170m
distance.
Table 2. Experimental and real concentrations of NH3 vapor.
Real concentration Experimental concen-
Range (m) (moleculecm3) tration (moleculecm3)
130 3.01017 2.31017
170 4.01017 3.51017
250 4.01017 3.61017
by adjusting a diffraction grating at one end of the cavity. The
CO2 laser beams are aligned with the help of two helium
neon lasers.
The receiver consists of a Cassegrain telescope (DALL-
KIR-KHAM) with a 50cm diameter mirror and a scanner mir-
ror area of 5074cm used to collect the returned atmospheric
backscattered signals. The telescope and transmitter setup are
coaxially aligned and mounted on a steel table, which can be
scanned over 360 in azimuth and15 in elevation.
There are two detectors, one (uncooled-MCT) for the
detection of laser reference signals, and the another (cooled-
photovoltaic HgCdTe) with high detectivity connected to the
receiving telescope, both at 811m regions. Since the origin
of dark noise is thermal in nature, cooling the detector to liq-
uid N2 temperature (77K) reduces dark noise contributions
significantly.
The detected signals are passed through A/D converter
cards and data processors, which consist of 100 MHz
(uncooled detector) and 40MHz (cooled detector) digitizers
and a computer for data storage. By using equation (1), the
computer processes the information from the cards and after
averaging over 40 measurements and noise elimination, the
test gas concentration diagram is plotted versus distance.
4.Measurements
In the first experiments, the system has been employed for
the detection of backscattered signals from atmosphere with
selected 200mJ laser energy as shown in figure5. It is clear
that the backscattered signal is basically a fraction of the inci-
dent laser power on the sample, and as incident laser power is
increased, the backscattered laser signal will also be increased
accordingly. Furthermore, as backscattering curves in figure5
M K Tehrani et al
Figure 7. Measurement DMMP concentration curve on 120m
distance.
show, the overlap of the two beams is completed after 100m
and then the behavior of the two wavelengths are similar.
In the second experiment, the system is tested for the detec-
tion of absorption due to NH3 molecules by locating the test
cell at 130, 170 and 250m distances, respectively. In these
tests, 1, 1.3, 1.3lt of 25% ammonia is sprayed into the cham-
ber with dimensions of 622m, respectively. Then, the
laser pulse energy of 200mJ, and a width of 150ns is fired
into the cell. The average measurements of NH3 concentra-
tion for laser wavelength on = 10.31m on R (10) line, and
off =10.60m on P (20) line, as given in table2.
The corresponding absorption cross-sections for these wave-
lengths are on = 2.621020cm2 and off =3.51021cm2,
respectively [23]. As an example, an NH3 concentration curve
detected on 170m distance is shown in figure6.
In the final experiment, the system has been employed for
remote detection of DMMP vapor and measurement of its
concentration. In order to reduce the adverse effects of envi-
ronmental impacts caused by the DMMP test, a small volume
(60ml) of liquid DMMP is sprayed into the smaller chamber
with dimensions of 6 1 1m, which is located at a dis-
tance of 120m. For laser wavelength on = 9.52m on 9P (16)
line, and off = 10.55m on 10P (16) line, and the correspond-
ing absorption cross-sections [24], on = 8.41020cm2 and
off = 1.51021cm2, DMMP concentration curve measured
in terms of distance is shown in figure7.
This figure shows that the average measurements of
DMMP concentration is 4.6 1016(moleculecm3), while
the actual amount is equal to 5.51016(moleculecm3). The
results show that the experimental and real values of DMMP
and NH3 agents concentration are in good agreement.
5.Conclusion
A (PPS) mobile DIAL system for the detection of chemical
agents has been developed in OLRI MUT. The system con-
sists of a transmitter, a receiver, two passive plasma shutters,
two detectors and a desktop computer. The transmitter con-
sists of two tunable TEA CO2 lasers, which can operate in the
infrared spectral region, allowing coverage of a large number
4
Laser Phys. 25 (2015) 035701
of the most dangerous chemical weapons whose absorption
wavelength range is 9.210.8m. Thus, we will be able to pre-
vent hazardous events by rapidly detecting them. In addition, a
mobile system allows us to detect chemical agents in different
places. Therefore, the establishment and development of this
project is very important. The experimental results for detec-
tion of NH3 and DMMP concentration by several distances
are in good agreement with real values. The primary experi-
mental result shows that the system allows further detection
of both military and civilian agents for low concentration and
remote distance of pollutants.
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