Identification of Flying Insects in the Spatial, Spectral, and Time Domains with Focus on Mosquito Imaging.

Insects constitute a very important part of the global ecosystem and include pollinators, disease vectors, and agricultural pests, all with pivotal influence on society. Monitoring and control of such insects has high priority, and automatic systems are highly desirable. While capture and analysis by biologists constitute the gold standard in insect identification, optical and laser techniques have the potential for high-speed detection and automatic identification based on shape, spectroscopic properties such as reflectance and fluorescence, as well as wing-beat frequency analysis. The present paper discusses these approaches, and in particular presents a novel method for automatic identification of mosquitos based on image analysis, as the insects enter a trap based on a combination of chemical and suction attraction. Details of the analysis procedure are presented, and selectivity is discussed. An accuracy of 93% is achieved by our proposed method from a data set containing 122 insect images (mosquitoes and bees). As a powerful and cost-effective method, we finally propose the combination of imaging and wing-beat frequency analysis in an integrated instrument.

Gas Monitoring in Human Frontal Sinuses-Stability Considerations and Gas Exchange Studies.

Acute rhinosinusitis is a common infectious disease, which, in more than 90% of cases, is caused by viruses rather than by bacteria. Even so, antibiotics are often unnecessarily prescribed, and in the long run this contributes to the alarming level of antibiotics resistance. The reason is that there are no good guiding tools for defining the background reason of the infection. One main factor for the clearance of the infection is if there is non-obstructed ventilation from the sinus to the nasal cavity. Gas in Scattering Media Absorption Spectroscopy (GASMAS) has potential for diagnosing this. We have performed a study of frontal sinuses of volunteers with a focus on signal stability and reproducibility over time, accurate oxygen concentration determination, and assessment of gas transport through passages, naturally and after decongestant spray administration. Different from earlier studies on frontal sinuses, water vapor, serving the purpose of oxygen signal normalization, was measured at 818 nm rather than earlier at 937 nm, now closer to the 760 nm oxygen absorption band and thus resulting in more reliable results. In addition, the action of decongestants was objectively demonstrated for the first time. Evaluated oxygen concentration values for left- and right-hand side sinus cavities were found to agree within 0.3%, and a left-right geometrical asymmetry parameter related to anatomical differences was stable within 10%.

Short-range remote sensing of water quality by a handheld fluorosensor system.

Laser-induced fluorescence is a powerful measurement method for determining the concentration of organic pollutants as well as the amount of algae in water. It can be applied in remote sensing of natural waters and has the advantages of high speed and sensitivity. In this paper, we present a compact handheld fluorosensor system for water quality assessment. The power of the technique is demonstrated in measurements at a river system in South China.

Particle profiling and classification by a dual-band continuous-wave lidar system.

A dual-band continuous-wave (CW) light detection and ranging (lidar) system has been developed for particle classification. In this lidar system, the range-resolved atmospheric backscattering signal is recorded by an optical imaging system satisfying the Scheimpflug principle instead of the conventional time-of-flight approach. It is thus possible to employ low-cost and compact CW diode lasers, facilitating the development of a robust multiple-wavelength atmospheric lidar system that can attain high accuracy of the retrieved parameters of atmospheric particles. The present work demonstrates a dual-band Scheimpflug lidar system employing two diode lasers at 405 nm (0.5 W) and 808 nm (3.2 W). Exposures are milliseconds apart and interpolated. Measurements of various types of particles and smoke have been performed to verify the feasibility of using the present system for improved particle classification and sizing, for the situation when plumes were dilute and no significant opacity was detected.

Optical characterization of Chinese hybrid rice using laser-induced fluorescence techniques-laboratory and remote-sensing measurements: publisher's note.

This publisher's note corrects the author listing and a figure caption in Appl. Opt.57, 3481 (2018)APOPAI0003-693510.1364/AO.57.003481.

Optical characterization of Chinese hybrid rice using laser-induced fluorescence techniques-laboratory and remote-sensing measurements.

Chinese hybrid rice of different varieties, growing in paddies in the Pingqiao district, north of Xinyang city, Henan province, China, was studied in detailed spectroscopic characteristics using laser-induced fluorescence. The base for the studies was the new South China Normal University mobile lidar laboratory, which was dispatched on site, providing facilities both for laboratory studies using a 405 nm excitation source as well as remote sensing measurements at ranges from around 40 m-120 m, mostly employing the 532 nm output from a Nd:YAG laser. We, in particular, studied the spectral influence of the species varieties as well as the level of nitrogen fertilization supplied. Specially developed contrast functions as well as multivariate techniques with principal components and Fisher's discriminate analyses were applied, and useful characterization of the rice could be achieved. The chlorophyll content mapping of the 30 zones was obtained with the remote sensing measurements.

Laser spectroscopic studies of gas diffusion in alumina ceramics.

Experiments for measuring gas diffusion through porous alumina ceramics are described. With the gas in scattering media absorption spectroscopy (GASMAS) technique, gaseous oxygen signals are measured continuously during the gas diffusion process. It is experimentally demonstrated that the time-dependence of the transient oxygen signal is described by an exponential curve. Moreover, the effect on gas diffusion of material porosity and whether water is present or not is also experimentally investigated.

Laser spectroscopy applied to environmental, ecological, food safety, and biomedical research.

Laser spectroscopy provides many possibilities for multi-disciplinary applications in environmental monitoring, in the ecological field, for food safety investigations, and in biomedicine. The paper gives several examples of the power of multi-disciplinary applications of laser spectroscopy as pursued in our research group. The studies utilize mostly similar and widely applicable spectroscopic approaches. Air pollution and vegetation monitoring by lidar techniques, as well as agricultural pest insect monitoring and classification by elastic scattering and fluorescence spectroscopy are described. Biomedical aspects include food safety applications and medical diagnostics of sinusitis and otitis, with strong connection to the abatement of antibiotics resistance development.

Diode laser spectroscopy for noninvasive monitoring of oxygen in the lungs of newborn infants.

BACKGROUND: Newborn infants may have pulmonary disorders with abnormal gas distribution, e.g., respiratory distress syndrome. Pulmonary radiography is the clinical routine for diagnosis. Our aim was to investigate a novel noninvasive optical technique for rapid nonradiographic bedside detection of oxygen gas in the lungs of full-term newborn infants. METHODS: Laser spectroscopy was used to measure contents of oxygen gas (at 760 nm) and of water vapor (at 937 nm) in the lungs of 29 healthy newborn full-term infants (birth weight 2,900-3,900 g). The skin above the lungs was illuminated using two low-power diode lasers and diffusely emerging light was detected with a photodiode. RESULTS: Of the total 390 lung measurements performed, clear detection of oxygen gas was recorded in 60%, defined by a signal-to-noise ratio of >3. In all the 29 infants, oxygen was detected. Probe and detector positions for optimal pulmonary gas detection were determined. There were no differences in signal quality with respect to gender, body side or body weight. CONCLUSION: The ability to measure pulmonary oxygen content in healthy full-term neonates with this technique suggests that with further development, the method might be implemented in clinical practice for lung monitoring in neonatal intensive care.

Reflectance and fluorescence characterization of maize species using field laboratory measurements and lidar remote sensing.

Laser-induced fluorescence is an important technique to study photosynthesis and plants. Information on chlorophyll and other pigments can be obtained. We have been using a mobile laboratory in a Chinese experimental farm setting to study maize (Zea mays L.) leaves by reflectance and fluorescence measurements and correlated the spectroscopic signals to the amount of fertilizer supplied. Further, we studied five different species of maize using the remote monitoring of the fluorescence signatures obtained with the same mobile laboratory, but now in a laser radar remote-sensing configuration. The system separation from the target area was 50 m, and 355 nm pulsed excitation using the frequency-tripled output from an Nd:YAG laser was employed. Principal component analysis and linear discriminant analysis were combined to identify the different maize species using their fluorescence spectra. Likewise, the spectral signatures in reflectance and fluorescence frequently allowed us to separate different fertilizer levels applied to plants of the same species.

Wavelength modulation spectroscopy--digital detection of gas absorption harmonics based on Fourier analysis.

This work presents a detailed study of the theoretical aspects of the Fourier analysis method, which has been utilized for gas absorption harmonic detection in wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS). The lock-in detection of the harmonic signal is accomplished by studying the phase term of the inverse Fourier transform of the Fourier spectrum that corresponds to the harmonic signal. The mathematics and the corresponding simulation results are given for each procedure when applying the Fourier analysis method. The present work provides a detailed view of the WMS technique when applying the Fourier analysis method.

Development of a compact multipass oxygen sensor used for gas diffusion studies in opaque media.

A highly scattering porous ceramic sample is employed as a miniature random-scattering multipass gas cell for monitoring of oxygen content in opaque media, that is, wood materials in the present work. Gas in scattering media absorption spectroscopy is used by employing a 760 nm near-infrared laser diode to probe the absorption of molecular oxygen enclosed in the pores of the ceramic material working as the multipass gas cell, with a porosity of 75%. A path length enhancement of approximately 26 times and a signal-to-noise ratio of about 60 were obtained for the ceramic sample used in this work. The gas sensor was then used in a case study of the gas diffusion in wood materials, namely, oak, spruce, and mahogany samples. Differences depending on whether gas diffusion was studied longitudinal or radial to the tree annual rings are demonstrated, with very little gas diffusing in the radial direction. We can also observe that the gas diffusion for the densest material-oak-had the fastest diffusion time, and mahogany, which had the lowest density, showed the slowest diffusion time.

Pathlength determination for gas in scattering media absorption spectroscopy.

Gas in scattering media absorption spectroscopy (GASMAS) has been extensively studied and applied during recent years in, e.g., food packaging, human sinus monitoring, gas diffusion studies, and pharmaceutical tablet characterization. The focus has been on the evaluation of the gas absorption pathlength in porous media, which a priori is unknown due to heavy light scattering. In this paper, three different approaches are summarized. One possibility is to simultaneously monitor another gas with known concentration (e.g., water vapor), the pathlength of which can then be obtained and used for the target gas (e.g., oxygen) to retrieve its concentration. The second approach is to measure the mean optical pathlength or physical pathlength with other methods, including time-of-flight spectroscopy, frequency-modulated light scattering interferometry and the frequency domain photon migration method. By utilizing these methods, an average concentration can be obtained and the porosities of the material are studied. The last method retrieves the gas concentration without knowing its pathlength by analyzing the gas absorption line shape, which depends upon the concentration of buffer gases due to intermolecular collisions. The pathlength enhancement effect due to multiple scattering enables also the use of porous media as multipass gas cells for trace gas monitoring. All these efforts open up a multitude of different applications for the GASMAS technique.

Spatial monitoring of flying insects over a Swedish lake using a continuous-wave lidar system.

We have used a continuous-wave bi-static lidar system based on the Scheimpflug principle in measurements on flying insects above, and in the vicinity of, a small lake located in a forested area in Southern Sweden. The system, which operates on triangulation principles, has a high spatial resolution at close distance, followed by a subsequent decline in resolution further from the sensor, related to the compact system design with a separation of transmitter and receiver by only 0.81 m. Our study showed a strong increase in insect abundance especially at dusk, but also at dawn. Insect numbers decreased over water compared to over land, and larger insects were over-represented over water. Further, the average size of the insects increased at night compared to day time.

Detection of elemental mercury by multimode diode laser correlation spectroscopy.

We demonstrate a method for elemental mercury detection based on correlation spectroscopy employing UV laser radiation generated by sum-frequency mixing of two visible multimode diode lasers. Resonance matching of the multimode UV laser is achieved in a wide wavelength range and with good tolerance for various operating conditions. Large mode-hops provide an off-resonance baseline, eliminating interferences from other gas species with broadband absorption. A sensitivity of 1 µg/m3 is obtained for a 1-m path length and 30-s integration time. The performance of the system shows promise for mercury monitoring in industrial applications.

Tea classification and quality assessment using laser-induced fluorescence and chemometric evaluation.

Laser-induced fluorescence was used to evaluate the classification and quality of Chinese oolong teas and jasmine teas. The fluorescence of four different types of Chinese oolong teas-Guangdong oolong, North Fujian oolong, South Fujian oolong, and Taiwan oolong was recorded and singular value decomposition was used to describe the autofluoresence of the tea samples. Linear discriminant analysis was used to train a predictive chemometric model and a leave-one-out methodology was used to classify the types and evaluate the quality of the tea samples. The predicted classification of the oolong teas and the grade of the jasmine teas were estimated using this method. The agreement between the grades evaluated by the tea experts and by the chemometric model shows the potential of this technique to be used for practical assessment of tea grades.

Method for studying gas composition in the human mastoid cavity by use of laser spectroscopy.

OBJECTIVES: We evaluated a method for gas monitoring in the mastoid cavity using tunable diode laser spectroscopy by comparing it to simultaneously obtained computed tomographic (CT) scans. METHODS: The presented optical technique measures free gases, oxygen (O2), and water vapor (H2O) within human tissue by use of low-power diode lasers. Laser light was sent into the tip of the mastoid process, and the emerging light at the level of the antrum was captured with a detector placed on the skin. The absorption of H2O was used to monitor the probed gas volume of the mastoid cavity, and it was compared to the CT scan-measured volume. The ratio between O2 absorption and H2O absorption estimated the O2 content in the mastoid cavity and thus the ventilation. The parameters were compared to the grading of mastoid cavities based on the CT scans (n = 31). The reproducibility of the technique was investigated by measuring each mastoid cavity 4 times. RESULTS: Both O2 and H2O were detected with good reproducibility. The H2O absorption and the CT volume correlated (r = 0.69). The average ratio between the normalized O2 absorption and the H2O absorption signals was 0.7, indicating a lower O2 content than in surrounding air (expected ratio, 1.0), which is consistent with previous findings made by invasive techniques. All mastoid cavities with radiologic signs of disease were detected. CONCLUSIONS: Laser spectroscopy monitoring appears to be a usable tool for noninvasive investigations of gas composition in the mastoid cavity, providing important clinical information regarding size and ventilation.

Gas spectroscopy and optical path-length assessment in scattering media using a frequency-modulated continuous-wave diode laser.

Simultaneous assessment of the spectroscopic absorption signal of gas enclosed in a scattering medium and the corresponding optical path length of the probing light is demonstrated using a single setup. Sensitive gas absorption measurements are performed by a tunable diode laser using wavelength-modulation spectroscopy, while the path length is evaluated by the frequency-modulated cw technique commonly used in the field of telecommunication. Proof-of-principle measurements are demonstrated with water vapor as the absorbing gas and using polystyrene foam as an inhomogeneously scattering medium. The combination of these techniques opens up new possibilities for straightforward evaluation of gas presence and exchange in scattering media.

Disordered, strongly scattering porous materials as miniature multipass gas cells.

We investigate the interaction of light and gas in strongly scattering nano- and macroporous media. Manufacturing and structural characterization of ZrO(2), Al(2)O(3) and TiO(2) ceramics with different pore sizes, measurements of optical properties using photon time-of-flight spectroscopy, and high-resolution laser spectroscopy of O(2) at 760 nm are reported. We show that extreme light scattering can be utilized to realize miniature spectroscopic gas cells. Path length enhancement factors up to 750 are reached (5.4 m path through gas for light transmitted through a 7 mm ZrO(2) with 49% porosity and 115 nm pores).

Active feedback regulation of a Michelson interferometer to achieve zero-background absorption measurements.

An active phase-controlling scheme based on a proportional-integral-derivative-controlled piezoelectric transducer is presented with the purpose of stabilizing a quasi-zero-background absorption spectrometer. A fiber-based balanced Michelson interferometer is used, and absorption due to a gas sample in one of its arms results in an increased light signal to a detector, which otherwise, thanks to destructive interference, experiences a very low light level. With the presented approach, the sensitivity of already potent absorption measurement techniques, e.g., based on modulation, could be improved even further.