Spark-induced breakdown spectroscopy-based classification of bioaerosols

This manuscript documents initial experiments into the use of spark-induced breakdown spectroscopy as a detection system for aerosols of biological origin. A variety of different aerosolized bacteria and spores were analyzed both with broad and narrow band detection techniques. Making use of alkali and alkali metal atomic emission signals, biological aerosols can be distinguished by class, as well as differentiated from ordinarily encountered background aerosols. This work was done with both wavelength dispersive hardware and filtered PMTs. A system constructed of PMTs with narrowband interference filters has demonstrated potential to be a useful detector for airborne biological material.