Portable Stand-Off Time-Gated Raman Spectroscopy for Detection of Explosive Precursor

Abstract

Remote detection of trace explosives and hazardous chemicals has been an ongoing challenge and a critical issue in defense science, public safety, and counterterrorism. Raman spectroscopy, a form of inelastic scattering, acts as a "fingerprint" analysis method for substance identification with high confidence in the detection of chemicals based on their vibrational modes. Here, we present a portable stand-off time-gated Raman spectroscopy, which consists of a passive Q-switched pulsed laser, a designed gated ICMOS, a spectrometer, and a telescope, with an overall size of 476.5 × 321.5 × 219.3 mm and a weight of 23.2 kg, which is much more compact and portable than reported previously. To confirm the effectiveness of the designed portable time-gated Raman spectroscopy, detections at different working distances and various amounts of substances are carried out. High levels of Raman identification are acquired even for 0.1 mg at a 10-m distance. Furthermore, we simulate realistic encounters in a possible war-zone scenario by testing the system's ability to recognize urea samples on different substrates such as an aluminum plate, woodblock, cardboard, black cloth, and leaf; good characteristic recognition is shown.