This research, supported by the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program in the Chemistry Division, will apply information theoretic techniques to thermally modulated gas chromatography. Approaches previously employed mainly by spectrocscopists will be used to improve detection limits and mixture complexity addressable by gas chromatography. For simple mixtures, increased speed of analysis will result. Noise characteristics of injectors, detectors, and modulators will be considered in designing novel modes of chromatographic analysis. %%% This research will apply Fourier Transform and correlation signal processing to thermally modulated gas chromatography, a technique for separating and identifying volatile chemical species. Depending on the specific approach and problem, enhancements to detection or improvements in continuous on-line monitoring of industrial processes should result.
