Darpa’s Butterfly-Inspired Sensors Light Up at Chem Threats
By Katie Drummond
August 12, 2010
The Pentagon’s got a new game plan to detect deadly chemical threats: tiny, iridescent sensors that are designed to mimic one of nature’s most colorful creatures.五角大樓已得一個新的遊戲計劃，去探測致命的化學威脅：小、燦爛光輝的傳感器，設計去模仿自然界其中一種顏色最豐富的生物。
It’s the latest in a series of Darpa-funded efforts to use insects to spot weapons. Last year, the agency tapped researchers at Agiltron Corporation to implant larvae with micromechanical chemical sensors. In 2005, Darpa-backed scientists started training honey bees to become bomb sniffers.
它是Darpa資助的最新一系列努力，使用昆蟲發現武器。去年，Agiltron公司的機構選定研究人員植入幼蟲以微觀化學傳感器。在 2005年，DARPA支持的科學家們開始訓練蜜蜂成為炸彈嗅探者。
This time, Darpa’s interested in the chemical-sensing talents of butterflies. The agency’s awarded $6.3 million to a consortium, led by GE Global Research, that’ll develop synthetic versions of the nanostructures found on the scales of butterfly wings.
這一次，DARPA有興趣於化學傳感的蝴蝶天才，機構已頒出630萬美元給一個財團，由 GE全球研發中心領導的，將開發合成版本的納米結構，在蝴蝶的翅膀上找到。
The project’s lead researcher, Dr. Radislav Potyrailo, likens the nanostructures on the butterfly wing scales, which each measure around 50 by 100 microns, to “tiles on a roof.” The science of chemical response behind the structures is based on photonics. The wings of Morpho butterflies change spectral reflectivity depending on the exposure of the scales to different vapors. As Potyrailo and his team write in a 2007 paper, published in Nature Photonics, “this optical response dramatically outperforms that of existing nano-engineered photonic sensors.”
項目的首席研究員拉迪斯拉夫Potyrailo博士，比喻蝴蝶翅膀上的納米結構，其中每一量度約是 50 x100微米，以“鋪屋頂上的瓦片。”在結構背後的化學反應的科學是基於光子。蝴蝶翅膀的形態改變光譜的反射率，取決於對不同氣體的接觸尺度。正如Potyrailo和他的團隊在2007年撰寫論文，在自然光子學發表“，這光學的反應大大優於現存的納米工程光子傳感器。”
“This is a fundamentally different approach,” he tells Danger Room. “Existing sensors can measure individual gases in the environment, but they suffer, big time, from interferences. This approach overcomes that hurdle.”
A single sensor would be tailored to detect certain types of chemical agents or explosives, and do so without hindrance from other chemicals, airborne molecules or even humidity. Water molecules, Potyrailo points out, can overload a dangerous gas that’s sparsely distributed but “is still able to have actionable effects in a military setting.” And, much like their biological inspiration, the sensors would do the job with remarkable specificity.
“It would be science fiction to say ‘here is my sensor, it can selectively detect 1,000 different chemicals’,” he says. “But what we’re saying is that we can detect and distinguish between several important chemicals — without making mistakes, without false responses.”
“它將是科幻小說去說'這是我的傳感器，它能選擇性地檢測 1,000種不同的化學物'，”他說。 “但我們要說的是，我們能檢測和區分幾種重要化學物質 - 沒有犯錯誤，沒有虛假的反應。”
At around 1 x 1 cm apiece, the sensors are also small enough to be attached to clothing, installed in buildings or deployed “like confetti” over widespread regions. And they’d have helpful civilian uses, as well, from food safety and water purification tests to emissions monitoring at power plants. So be careful, the next time you swat an insect. It just might save your skin.
Photo: GE Global Research
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/08/pentagons-butterfly-inspired-sensors-light-up-at-chemical-threats/
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