METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR DETECTING AEROSOL PARTICLES

Systems for identifying the composition of aerosol particles, particularly that of non-biological aerosol particles or biological aerosol particles including surface-bound water. A continuous timing laser triggers an IR ionization laser to fire when each particle enters the beam of the continuous trigger laser and determine optical properties of the aerosol particles in association with one or more laser scattering devices and generate optical data. The continuous laser beam and the pulse ionization laser beam are disposed as overlapping beams. Ionized fragments produced when each particle is struck by the ionization laser are analyzed using a TOFMS detector. A data analysis system is configured to compile the optical data with unique mass spectral data associated with each particle using data fusion and compare the compiled optical data with a training data set comprising of a knowledge base of known aerosol particles to predict composition.