Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/C514982/1
Sonic and optical manipulation and sorting of aerosols.
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Professor D McGloin, University of St Andrews, Physics and Astronomy
- Grant held at:
- University of St Andrews, Physics and Astronomy
- Science Area:
- Atmospheric
- Overall Classification:
- Atmospheric
- ENRIs:
- Natural Resource Management
- Global Change
- Environmental Risks and Hazards
- Science Topics:
- Pollution
- Water In The Atmosphere
- Stratospheric Processes
- Atmospheric Kinetics
- Tropospheric Processes
- Abstract:
- The study of aerosols is of great importance in the area of atmospheric science. The way in which aerosols interact and react with each other, their composition, morphology and size are all of importance in this area. The ability to study individual aerosol droplets is therefore an very useful technique. Making use of lasers we can carry out spectroscopic measurements that can provide very detailed information about the droplets. However in many current experiments this ability is hampered by the fact that the droplets cannot be localised, and simply fall through the laser beam probing them. Also the size of the particle is of interest, as different sized particles play different roles in atmospheric science - smaller particles are more important in cloud formation than larger ones for instance. The aim of the proposed work is to create a device that uses sonic waves to trap and localise aerosol droplets so they can be studied in more detail. This will be carried out in tandem with work that creates an optical lattice - an interference pattern made from several laser beams - that can be used to sort particles The aim here is to create and optical lattice suitable for sorting and separating aerosol droplets by size and possibly by composition. One could then envisage a device which can take a freely flowing sample of aerosol droplets and sort the sample, non-invasively, by size. Combined with the sonic trap this has the potential to be a powerful sorting and trapping tool that is currently unavailable to atmospheric scientists.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/C514982/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Small Grants Pre FEC
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Small Grants
This grant award has a total value of £30,131
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - Other Costs | Total - Equipment |
|---|---|
| £5,331 | £24,800 |
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