Abstract

A key requirement for prevailing against terrorist threats to both transportation systems and stationary structures [1,2], as well as for facilitating the massive cleanup efforts required at decommissioned military bases [3,4], is the ability to detect trace quantities of explosive materials in the presence of a wide variety of interfering species. Numerous analytical techniques are being investigated for this problem, among which laser-based spectroscopic methods show enormous potential. Methods under investigation [1,2] include absorption spectroscopy of explosive vapors detected by photothermal or modulation techniques, detection of decomposition fragments by chemiluminescence, frequency-modulation spectroscopy, or modulated magnetic rotation spectroscopy [5], and resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization spectroscopy.

© 1996 Optical Society of America