A new miniature hand-held solar-blind reagentless standoff chemical, biological, and explosives (CBE) sensor

W. F. Hug; R. D. Reid; R. Bhartia; A. L. Lane

doi:10.1117/12.769055

21 April 2008 A new miniature hand-held solar-blind reagentless standoff chemical, biological, and explosives (CBE) sensor

W. F. Hug, R. D. Reid, R. Bhartia, A. L. Lane

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 6954, Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives (CBRNE) Sensing IX; 69540I (2008) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.769055
Event: SPIE Defense and Security Symposium, 2008, Orlando, Florida, United States

Abstract

Improvised explosive devices (IEDs), vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs), and suicide bombers are a major threat to many countries and their citizenry. The ability to detect trace levels of these threats with a miniature, hand-held, reagentless, standoff sensor represents a major improvement in the state of the art of CBE surface sensors. Photon Systems, Inc., in collaboration with Jet Propulsion Laboratory, recently demonstrated a new technology hand-held sensor for reagentless, close-range, standoff detection and identification of trace levels CBE materials on surfaces. This targeted ultraviolet CBE (TUCBE) sensor is the result of an Army Phase I STTR program. The resulting 5lb, 5W, flashlight-sized sensor can discriminate CBE from background materials using a combination of deep UV excited resonance Raman (RR) and laser induced native fluorescence (LINF) emissions resulting from excitation by a new technology deep UV laser. Detection and identification is accomplished in less than 1ms. Standoff excitation of suspicious packages, vehicles, persons, and other objects that may contain hazardous materials is accomplished using wavelengths below 250nm where Raman and native fluorescence emissions occupy distinctly different wavelength regions. This enables simultaneous detection of RR and LINF emissions with no interferences. The sensor employs fused RR/LINF chemometric methods to extract the identity of targeted materials from background clutter. Photon Systems has demonstrated detection and identification of 100ng/cm2 of explosives materials at a distance of 1 meter using a sensor with 3.8 cm optical aperture. Expansion of the optical aperture to 38 cm in a lantern-sized sensor will enable similar detection and identification of CBE materials at standoff distances of 10 meters. As a result of excitation and detection in the deep UV and the use of a gated detection system, the sensor is solar blind and can operate in full daylight conditions.

Citation Download Citation

W. F. Hug, R. D. Reid, R. Bhartia, and A. L. Lane "A new miniature hand-held solar-blind reagentless standoff chemical, biological, and explosives (CBE) sensor", Proc. SPIE 6954, Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives (CBRNE) Sensing IX, 69540I (21 April 2008); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.769055

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available