Description: High throughput, fast detection and characterization of inorganic and organic biomarkers have become important challenge for future lunar robotic rover exploration and planetary missions. To allow for rapid sample characterization on the Moon and Mars, the in situ non-destructive Raman detection technique is a highly desirable sensing tool for both qualitative and quantitative analysis. However, current Raman systems deployed in the field are inadequate due to deleterious fluorescence interference. Fluorescence is often several orders of magnitude more intense than Raman scattering signals and its broad structures spectrum could be difficult to remove from Raman spectra. We propose to develop a new infrared fiber-optic Raman sensor that can eliminate fluorescence with significantly improved Raman sensitivity for fast field detections. The proposed concept is based on recent technology advances in fiber lasers, fiber optic Raman probes and infrared detector arrays. Innovative infrared fiber-optic Raman sensor enables highly sensitive fluorescence-free Raman analysis and offers flexible remote detection, so that the field spectrometer's overall performance would be intact and extremely flexible for planetary missions. No dispersive Raman system today offers the unique fluorescence elimination for rapid in-situ fiber-optic remote detection.

Benefits: Raman spectroscopy provides information about molecular vibrations that can be used for sample identification and quantization. The proposed Raman spectrometer is useful for both qualitative and quantitative applications. The proposed fiber Raman spectrometers have wide applications to include environmental monitoring, homeland security, life science, matter physics and chemistry. It offers a non-destructive, non-contact method of analysis suitable for both laboratories based and plant based applications. Currently, Raman spectrometer serves as an important instrument for Homeland Defense. It has been used for the bulk identification of explosives, chemical warfare agents, and other hazardous chemicals.

The proposed fiber Raman spectrometer will provide NASA a light weight, low-power consumption, versatile, compact, rugged sensing instrument for rapid in-situ field detection of geological materials. It is a new field detection instrument capable of analyzing solid, liquid, and gaseous samples without firmware changes. The instrument proposed here is relevant to the NASA solicitation topic, "Instrument technologies for detecting inorganic and organic biomarkers on future Mars missions." It will directly support the research at NASA ARC (Dr. C. Mckay and Dr. B. Chen) for improving existing NASA flight instrument.