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Remote Explosives Detection (RED) by Infrared Photothermal Imaging

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2012

Christopher A. Kendziora ,
Robert Furstenberg ,
Robert M. Jones ,
Michael Papantonakis ,
Viet Nguyen  and
R. Andrew McGill
Christopher A. Kendziora
Affiliation:
U. S. Naval Research Laboratory, Code 6365, 4555 Overlook Ave. SW, Washington, DC 20375, U.S.A.
Robert Furstenberg
Affiliation:
U. S. Naval Research Laboratory, Code 6365, 4555 Overlook Ave. SW, Washington, DC 20375, U.S.A.
Robert M. Jones
Affiliation:
ITT Exelis, 5901 Indian School Road NE, Albuquerque, NM 87110
Michael Papantonakis
Affiliation:
U. S. Naval Research Laboratory, Code 6365, 4555 Overlook Ave. SW, Washington, DC 20375, U.S.A.
Viet Nguyen
Affiliation:
U. S. Naval Research Laboratory, Code 6365, 4555 Overlook Ave. SW, Washington, DC 20375, U.S.A.
R. Andrew McGill
Affiliation:
U. S. Naval Research Laboratory, Code 6365, 4555 Overlook Ave. SW, Washington, DC 20375, U.S.A.
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Abstract

RED is a technique we have developed for stand-off detection of trace explosives using infrared (IR) photo-thermal imaging [1,2,3]. RED incorporates compact IR quantum cascade lasers tuned to strong characteristic absorption bands and may be used to illuminate explosives present as particles on a surface. An IR focal plane array is used to image the surface and detect any small increase in the thermal emission upon laser illumination. We have previously demonstrated the technique at several meters to 10’s of meters of stand-off distance indoors and in field tests [4,5], while operating the lasers below the eye-safe intensity limit (100 mWcm2) [6]. Sensitivity to traces of explosives as small as a nanogram has been demonstrated. By varying the incident wavelength slightly, we can readily show selectivity between individual explosives such as TNT and RDX. Using a sequence of lasers at different wavelengths, we increase both sensitivity and selectivity. A complete detection protocol can be performed in a sub-second time domain. More recently, RED has been used to emphasize measurements with cooled detectors in addition to examining the utility of filtering the collected thermal emission signal which is rich in analyte-specific spectroscopic information. A next generation RED system and detection algorithm is being developed to take advantage of these more powerful features. This manuscript will include an overview of the approach and recent experimental results.

Keywords

energetic materialinfrared (IR) spectroscopysensor
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1405: Symposium Y – Advances in Energetic Materials Research , 2012 , mrsf11-1405-y03-01
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2012

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References

REFERENCES

1. Furstenberg, R. et al. ; Applied Physics Letters 93, 224103 (2008).Google Scholar
2. Kendziora, C. A. et al. ; Proc. of SPIE Vol. 7664, 76641J-1 (2010).Google Scholar
3. McGill, R.A. et al. ; “Detection of Chemicals with Infrared Light” USPTO Patent Application #12/255,103 (Notice of Allowance 2011).Google Scholar
4. Furstenberg, Robert et al. ; Proceedings of the IEEE conference on Technology for Homeland Security 2009, HST2009 p. 465–471, (2009).Google Scholar
5. Kendziora, C. A., Furstenberg, R., Stepnowski, S. V., Papantonakis, M., Nguyen, V., Stepnowski, J., and McGill, R. A., “Field Testing of Remote Explosives Detection (RED) Technology at Yuma Proving Ground” NRL Memorandum Report (NRL/MR/6360— 10–9304) (2010).Google Scholar
6. ANSI Standard Z136.1 (Laser Institute of America, Orlando, 2007), Table 5a.Google Scholar
7. Furstenberg, Robert et al. ; Proc. of SPIE, Vol. 8013 801318-1 (2011).Google Scholar
8. Groβer, J. (manuscript in preparation, to be submitted to the International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer)Google Scholar