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Chemical detection is a priority for the Intelligence Community (IC) with applications such as forensic analysis, border/facility protection, and stockpile/production monitoring. In particular, the IC has an interest in long term monitoring of a chemical environment without human oversight. The technology necessary for monitoring of this type must provide high sensitivity and accuracy, be robust to false alarms in the presence of complex chemical mixtures, and be contained in a small, ruggedized package with autonomous operation. The Intelligence Advanced Research Project Activity’s (IARPA’s) Molecular Analyzer for Efficient Gas-phase Low-power INterrogation (MAEGLIN) program is developing an ultra-low-power chemical analysis capability for chemical detection and identification of explosives, chemical weapons, industrial toxins and pollutants, narcotics, and nuclear materials with a low false alarm rate in the presence of complex interferents. In Phase 1 the MAEGLIN program separately developed component technology for chemical collection, separation, and identification tasks. This paper will describe the MAEGLIN program’s results from the nine separate Phase 1 performers. Highlights include development of an array of micro ion trap mass spectrometers with dual photoelectric and electron impact ionization, a sector mass spectrometer with a charge coupled device (CCD) detector that uses permanent magnets for ion bending, a miniature tandem ion mobility spectrometer system with a wire grid fragmenter, adaptive multi-channel three dimensional gas chromatography, various active and passive microfabricated preconcentrators, including one with a dedicated “hold and fire” stage for <0.25 second injection, and miniature electrostatic and Knudsen pumps.
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