Andor Technology has supplied Shamrock spectrometers and intensified CCD detectors for a hybrid sensor system that uses simultaneous Raman-LIBS for the analysis of explosive materials.
Using the hybrid sensor system, Spanish scientists have been able to use both Raman and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) simultaneously for instant, remote standoff analysis of explosive materials.
Because the system allows complementary molecular identification and molecular abundance information to be gathered from two different sensing techniques, it represents a more powerful analytical tool for the standoff detection of explosives present in trace quantities.
One completely field-tested, mobile hybrid sensor system based on this hyphenated spectroscopy approach could potentially be safely used in the standoff detection of explosives residues left, for example, by human fingerprints on surfaces such as car door handles from distances up to 50m.
It could also be used to check for explosives hidden within parked vehicles by taking measurements through windscreens and windows.
The hybrid detection system was developed at the University of Malaga, Spain, by a team led by Prof Jose Javier Laserna.
By integrating two Andor Shamrock AR303i spectrometers and Istar intensified CCDs, a Cassegrain telescope and a frequency doubled 532nm Nd:YAG nanosecond laser pulses, his team was able to make simultaneous acquisitions from the same sample of Raman - Molecular information - and LIBS spectra - Multi-elemental information - for 4-mononitrotoluene (MNT), 2,6-dinitrotoluene (DNT), 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine (RDX), C4 and H15 (both plastic explosives containing 90 per cent and 75 per cent of RDX by weight, respectively), and Goma2-ECO (Spanish denominated dynamite class high explosive).
