NJIT Physics Department Seminar

February 10, Wednesday (**SPECIAL DAY**)

Remote Sensing and Optical Spectroscopy as Sensors for Environmental Monitoring

Dr. Benjamin Thomas

NOAA–CREST (Cooperative Remote Sensing & Technology) Center

City College of New York

(Host: Federici)

Time: 2:35pm-3:35pm with 2:30pm tea time (**SPECIAL TIME**)

Room: ECE202

Abstract:

Several remote sensing technologies are used to address important environmental and safety concerns. For example, atmospheric trace gases and aerosols, considered as major actors in climate change processes and health effects through air pollution [T. Stocker et al., IPCC 2013], can be monitored using such technologies. The study of the size, shape, concentration and chemical nature of aerosols and trace gases can be performed in situ through optical spectroscopy and remote sensing using lasers operating on various spectral ranges, from UV to far infrared.

This presentation introduces the work done at the Institute of Light and Matter at Lyon 1 University in France, as well as at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the Cooperative Remote Sensing and Technology Center (NOAA-CREST) in New York at the City College. In this work, multi-wavelength and polarization sensitive lidars (Light Detection and Ranging) are used to study the optical properties, concentrations and shapes of aerosols directly in the Earth atmosphere [A. Miffre et al., 2012, G. David et al., 2012]. When coupled with optical correlation spectroscopy, lidar systems can also measure the time and spatial distribution of trace gases [B. Thomas et al., 2012, 2013]. In addition, stand-off detection systems using quantum cascade laser (QCL) in the infrared are used to achieve intra-pulse spectroscopy to detect and localized gas leakages [A. Diaz et al., 2016]. Finally, possible future research is proposed, where ultra-fast remote sensing of multi-species trace gases, toxic molecules, drugs or explosives can be performed by taking advantage of recent advances in QCL.