SBIR Phase I: Development of New Time and Spatially-Resolved, Near-Infrared Photoluminescence Techniques Detecting Trapped Charge in Inorganic Sediments for Geochronology Dating

SBIR 第一阶段：开发新的时间和空间分辨近红外光致发光技术，检测无机沉积物中的俘获电荷以进行地质年代测定

• 批准号: 2126530
• 负责人: Amy Scott
• 金额: $ 25.6万
• 依托单位: BETA ANALYTIC, INC.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-09-01 至 2022-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2126530&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Development; New; Time

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop a rapid, Pulsed Near-Infrared Photoluminescence (P-NIR-PL) and Stimulated Luminescence (SL) technique with micron spatial resolution, as a state-of-the art photoluminescence dating method for inorganic sediments, with substantially improved precision, accuracy, and turn-around time for sample processing. Picosecond-NIR-PL is a next-generation analytical platform for inorganic sediments. The team seeks to capture geochronological data from ~1 to 200,000 years prior. The approach addresses challenges with sample processing through the rapid detection of overlapping PL signals that will be deconvoluted and correlated to age. If successful, this project will provide new capabilities to geologists and archaeologists working on new geochronological methods for dating volcanic soils, charred materials, and sand/rock materials from future extraterrestrial sites. A sizable niche market and strong commercialization opportunity exists if optical dating measurements can be performed rapidly and non-destructively, repeatedly with differentiation on the sub single-grain level, and reliably with minimal sample pre-treatment. The intellectual merit of this project focuses on instrument development to address the immediate demand for an accurate tool for differentiation of quartz and feldspar detection in sediments using an advanced spatial and time-resolved microscopy method with an attached dosing/dating capability for geochronological dating. Separation of PL and SL decays that are previously unexplained will establish a novel geochronological method achieved by expanding the detection into the near-infrared. A picosecond pulsed laser source with picosecond-to-second resolution in kinetic decay will be combined with high spatial resolution to cover a wide range of excitation/emission profiles that uniquely shorten the time required for a single measurement, from 13 hours to 20 minutes. Specifically, the combined time-resolved and spatially-resolved components create a powerful technique to distinguish molecular and crystalline environments as well as to distinguishing emissions from similar spectra and unique elemental microstructures. The proposed activities may advance engineering and science innovation in pulsed optical/NIR dating methods with a focus on high performance, commercial instrument development for rapid sample screening. Establishment of both the state-of-the-art instrumentation and analytical testing service for optical dating will be performed by a new diversified customer segment with implementation of an online geochronological library.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目将开发一种具有微米空间分辨率的快速脉冲近红外光致发光 (P-NIR-PL) 和受激发光 (SL) 技术，作为最先进的无机物光致发光测年方法沉积物，显着提高了样品处理的精度、准确度和周转时间。 皮秒-NIR-PL 是下一代无机沉积物分析平台。 该团队致力于捕获大约 1 至 20 万年前的地质年代学数据。 该方法通过快速检测重叠的 PL 信号来解决样本处理的挑战，这些信号将被解卷积并与年龄相关。如果成功，该项目将为地质学家和考古学家提供新的能力，帮助他们研究新的地质年代学方法，对未来地外遗址的火山土壤、烧焦材料和沙/岩石材料进行年代测定。 如果光学测年测量能够快速、非破坏性地重复进行，并在亚单晶水平上进行区分，并且只需最少的样品预处理即可可靠地进行，那么就存在相当大的利基市场和强大的商业化机会。该项目的智力价值侧重于仪器开发，以满足对精确工具的迫切需求，该工具使用先进的空间和时间分辨显微镜方法，并具有用于地质年代测定的附加剂量/测年功能，来区分沉积物中的石英和长石检测。以前无法解释的 PL 和 SL 衰变的分离将建立一种新的地质年代学方法，通过将检测扩展到近红外范围来实现。 动力学衰减中具有皮秒至秒分辨率的皮秒脉冲激光源将与高空间分辨率相结合，以覆盖广泛的激发/发射曲线，从而独特地将单次测量所需的时间从 13 小时缩短到 20 分钟。 具体来说，时间分辨和空间分辨成分的结合创造了一种强大的技术来区分分子和晶体环境以及区分来自相似光谱和独特元素微观结构的发射。 拟议的活动可能会促进脉冲光学/近红外测年方法的工程和科学创新，重点是用于快速样品筛选的高性能商业仪器开发。建立最先进的光学测年仪器和分析测试服务将由一个新的多元化客户群体进行，并实施在线地质年代库。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并被认为值得通过以下方式提供支持：使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估。