06/13/2019
From a safe distance - raman spectrometer for defense and security applications
Deutsche Metrohm GmbH & Co. KG
The police discover a secret laboratory. Now they need to work out what substances are involved: Is it a drug laboratory? Or are explosives perhaps being made here?
Contact with an unknown substance could be fatal in such cases. The officers present therefore need to identify the substances they have found from a safe distance. Is this possible?
The police, military, fire service, and rescue services are frequently faced with situations where they encounter unknown substances: a secret laboratory, a leak in a tanker, or the discovery of an unidentified powder. Rapid identification of the substance is essential to making a decision on how to proceed.
Yet to do this, contact with the substance must be avoided as far as possible, as under these circumstances, an unknown substance could potentially be a hazardous substance.
Raman spectroscopy can solve this problem: A laser beam is directed at the substance to be determined. The light interacts with the substance and is modified in a unique way. Analyzing the scattered light enables the substance to be uniquely determined. This all happens in a matter of seconds.