title: Standoff and arms-length detection of chemicals with single-beam coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering.
abstract: The detection of chemicals from safe distances is vital in environments with potentially hazardous or explosive threats, where high sensitivity and fast detection speed are needed. Here we demonstrate standoff detection of several solids, liquids, and gases with single-beam coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering. This approach utilizes a phase coherent ultrabroad-bandwidth femtosecond laser to probe the fundamental vibrations that constitute a molecule's fingerprint. Characteristic Raman lines for several chemicals are successfully obtained from arms-length and 12 m standoff distances. The sensitivity and speed of this approach are also demonstrated.
authors.affiliation: BioPhotonic Solutions Inc., Okemos, Michigan 48864, USA.
authors.forename: Haowen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: D Ahmasi
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: Bingwei
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Paul J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Wrzesinski
authors.forename: Vadim V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Lozovoy
authors.forename: Marcos
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dantus
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D053834:Explosive Agents / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry*; D015386:Hazardous Substances / Q000032:analysis*; D007834:Lasers; D008832:Microchemistry / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D053834:Explosive Agents; D015386:Hazardous Substances