Measurements of the Ultraviolet Fluorescence Cross Sections and Spectra of Bacillus Anthracis Simulants.

Abstract

Measurements of the ultraviolet autofluorescence spectra and absolute cross sections of the Bacillus anthracis (Ba) simulants Bacillus globigii (Bg), Bacillus megaterium (Bm), Bacillus subtilis (Bs), and Bacillus cereus (Bc) were measured. Fluorescence spectra and cross sections of pine pollen (Pins echinata) were measured for comparison. Both dried vegetative cells and spores separated from the sporulated vegetative material were studied. The spectra were obtained by suspending a small number (<10) of particles in air in our Single Particle Spectroscopy Apparatus (SPSA), illuminating the particles with light from a spectrally filtered arc lamp and measuring the fluorescence spectra of the particles. The illumination was 230 nm (20 nm FWHM) and the fluorescence spectra was measured between 300 and 450 nm. The fluorescence cross section of vegetative Bg peaks at 320 nm with a maximum cross section of 5 X 10-14 cm2/sr-nm- particle, whereas the Bg spore fluorescence peaks at 310 nm with peak fluorescence of 8 X 10-15 cm2/sr-nm-particle. Pine pollen particles showed a higher fluorescence peaking at 353 nm with a cross section of 1.7 X 10-13 cm2/sr-nm-particle. Integrated cross sections ranged from 3.0 X 10-13 cm2/sr-particle for the Bg spores to 2.25 X 10-12 cm2/sr-particle for the vegetative cells.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 01, 1999
Accession Number
ADA364911

Entities

People

  • John R. Stephens

Organizations

  • Los Alamos National Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Sensors

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Arc Lamps
  • Detection
  • Detectors
  • Diffraction
  • Lamps
  • Light Sources
  • Materials
  • Measurement
  • Optical Detectors
  • Optical Fibers
  • Optical Properties
  • Optics
  • Particle Size
  • Particles
  • Scattering
  • Spectra
  • Spectroscopy

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Microbial Pathology
  • Optical Physics and Photonics.