• fiberoptic materials with improved performance in the near-infrared and infrared spectral regions;

• technologies for cost-effective miniaturization of sensor systems;

• on-chip formats for practical applications of miniaturized sensor systems; and

• chemical sensor systems with increased ruggedness, reliability, and control.

Research efforts directed at determining which chemical sensing technologies are practical and should be developed for high-volume home and personal wellness applications are expected to have particularly high payback.

New materials can lead to improvements in the selectivity of direct chemical sensors. The development of fast, miniaturized chromatographic and capillary electrophoresis systems with detectors that are senstitive to chemical structure is important for both general chemical sensing and for the more specific case of environmental monitoring. In the latter case, the requirement to monitor a given analyte over a wide range of concentrations and in a variety of environments places particularly stringent requirements on chemical sensor sensitivity and selectivity. The need to meet and possibly redefine regulatory requirements for monitoring toxins is also an important driver in the development of environmental chemical sensors. Mass-producible sensor formats are particularly important for occupational environmental monitoring in view of the need for low-cost compliance with regulatory requirements.

The detection of chemical weapons is a specific type of environmental sensing. The following materials areas have been identified by the committee as important in developing candidate sensor technologies to meet requirements for chemical weapons detection:

• fiberoptic coatings with improved chemical selectivity, for example, selective analyte absorption (a polysiloxane film has been shown to respond

FRONT MATTER (R1-R12)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (1-6)

PART I: DEFINITIONS AND ISSUES (7-8)

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO SENSORS (9-18)

CHAPTER 2: INTERDISCIPLINARY STRATEGY (19-28)

PART II: MATERIALS FOR SENSORS--IDENTIFYING NEEDS (29-32)

CHAPTER 3: SELECTED SENSOR APPLICATIONS IN MANUFACTURING (33-46)

CHAPTER 4: SELECTED SENSOR APPLICATIONS FOR STRUCTURAL MONITORING AND CONTROL (47-61)

CHAPTER 5: LWIR SENSORS (62-72)

CHAPTER 6: CHEMICAL SENSORS (73-88)

PART III: OPPORTUNITIES, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS (89-90)

CHAPTER 7: SENSOR MATERIALS R&D OPPORTUNITIES (91-95)

CHAPTER 8: GENERAL CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS (96-100)

APPENDIX A: BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SENSOR TECHNOLOGY (101-103)

APPENDIX B: SENSOR TECHNOLOGY GLOSSARY -- DEFINITIONS AND EXPLANATIONS . . . (104-107)

APPENDIX C: AN ILLUSTRATIVE SENSOR TAXONOMY (108-113)

APPENDIX D: SENSOR TECHNOLOGY FOR MONITORING POLYMER CURING (114-121)

APPENDIX E: FIGURES OF MERIT FOR INFRARED PHOTODETECTORS (122-123)

APPENDIX F: ACOUSTIC WAVE DEVICES FOR CHEMICAL SENSING (124-126)

APPENDIX G: CANDIDATE SENSOR TECHNOLOGIES FOR DETECTION OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS... (127-130)

APPENDIX H: BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS (131-134)