INTRODUCTION

For soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, the most dangerous threat comes not in the form of a bullet, but a bomb. According to NATO, improvised explosive devices (IEDs for short) account for over half of all deaths among coalition soldiers. A big part of the problem especially in Afghanistan is that the bombs are beyond-tough to spot. Theyre made of wood and fertilizer, so metal detectors are close-to-useless. There are sensors that can pick up explosives stray molecules, but they have to be right next to the bomb to be effective; the best sensor is still a dogs nose. Now, researchers have developed an advanced new bomb detection technique that uses lasers no more powerful than your typical presentation pointer to detect and identify bombs like IEDs from tens, if not hundreds, of feet away. The technology was developed by a team of researchers at Michigan State University led by chemist Marcos Dantus. The laser and the method weve developed were originally intended for microscopes, explains Dantus, but we were able to adapt and broaden its use to demonstrate its effectiveness for standoff detection of explosives. The detection method uses whats known as a single-beam coherent antiStokes Raman scattering technique. Translation? A laser beam like the one pictured up top combines short and long pulses of light to identify individual molecules with a high degree of precision from a safe distance. Heres how it works. The lasers short pulses give the molecules being investigated what the researchers describe as a little kick, causing the mystery molecules to vibrate. Every molecule gives off its own unique vibrational frequency in response to the kick from the short pulse. The long pulses, in turn, listen in on these unique vibrations to identify each molecule with an incredible degree of sensitivity. Just how sensitive are we talking? You can think of each chemicals short pulse-induced

vibration like a fingerprint; according to Dantus, the technique can even tell the difference between chemical isomers chemicals with the same chemical formula but a different arrangement of atoms. Having molecular structure sensitivity is critical for identifying explosives and avoiding unnecessary evacuation of buildings and closing roads due to false alarms, explans Dantus. According to Dantus and his colleagues, who have documented the application of the technique in the latest issue of Applied Physics Letters, the bomb-detecting laser technology has already been demonstrated to work from up to 40 feet away, though the researchers estimate that it should work from upwards of 100 yards. As the arms race continues between terrorists and security forces - bomb detection is critical to saving lives. But figuring out what is, and what isn't a bomb isn't easy. New laser technology could help security forces detect those explosives froms after distances.

Those in the business of bomb detection have found themselves with some unlikely allies recently. First it was worms that could sniff out explosives, then plants, then sensors using bee venom, and even graphene foam. Now, scientists are using lasers to ferret out the bad guys. Researchers at the Vienna University of Technology have developed a system that could potentially detect the whats inside a container from over a hundred meters away using lasers. The sensor works by pointing a laser beam at the sample. When the high energy laser light hits the potential bomb, it excites some of the photons that whatever is inside is made of. When those photons get excited, they emit their own light, which the sensor can read and work backwards from to figure out just what its looking at. The technical term for this technique is Raman-spectroscopy, and until recently it only really worked over short distances. As the laser gets further and further away, it excites less and less photons in its target, which makes the signals weaker. Now, with these highly sensitive sensors, even from just a few excited photons, researchers can figure out just whats inside a container. But the really important thing that this new laser technique allows isnt just seeing bombs from far away its seeing them through the containers they might be in. The wall will scatter the laser beam, taking most of the light away. But a very small portion of the light will penetrate the container, and that small portion will excite whats inside through the Raman scattering process. When the sensors pick up the scattering the hard part is to figure out what is coming from the container and what is coming from the contents inside. To do that, the researchers thought about how the light would move through the container. When the laser beam hits the wall it is extremely concentrated. So the light that comes back only comes from a very

small region. But the little bit of light that makes it through the wall is

much more diffuse and thus the scattering it causes spreads to a much larger area. The project, understandably, attracted attention from all kinds of groups interested in security, from the Spanish Guardia Civil, the Austrian Military and several private companies. But the researchers dont limit the technology to simply foiling the bad guys. According to the universitys press release, they see it as applicable any time access to your research subject is hard to come by, from glaciers to Mars.