US Department of Energy Argonne National Laboratory,
Argonne IL: Engineers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, using an emerging sensing technology, have developed a suite of sensors for national security applications that can quickly and effectively detect chemical, biological, nuclear and explosive materials.
“We can use this technology to detect chemical and biological agents and also to determine if a country is using its nuclear reactors to produce material for nuclear weapons or to track the direction of a chemical or radioactive plume to evacuate an area,” explained Paul Raptis, section manager. Raptis is developing these sensors with Argonne engineers Sami Gopalsami, Sasan Bakhtiari and Hual-Te Chien.
Argonne engineers have successfully performed the first-ever remote detection of chemicals and identification of unique explosives spectra using a spectroscopic technique that uses the properties of the millimeter/terahertz frequencies between microwave and infrared on the electromagnetic spectrum. The researchers used this technique to detect spectral “fingerprints” that uniquely identify explosives and chemicals.
The Argonne-developed technology was demonstrated in tests that accomplished three important goals:
Detected and measured poison gas precursors 60 meters away in the Nevada Test Site to an accuracy of 10 parts per million using active sensing. Identified chemicals related to defense applications, including nuclear weapons, from 600 meters away using passive sensing at the Nevada Test Site. Built a system to identify the spectral fingerprints of trace levels of explosives, including DNT, TNT, PETN, RDX and plastics explosives semtex and C-4. Current research involves collecting a database of explosive “fingerprints” and, working with partners Sarnoff Corp., Dartmouth College and Sandia National Laboratory, testing a mail- or cargo-screening system for trace explosives.
Argonne engineers have been exploring this emerging field for more than a decade to create remote technology to detect facilities that may be violating nonproliferation agreements by creating materials for nuclear weapons or making nerve agents.
How it works The millimeter/terahertz technology detects the energy levels of a molecule as it rotates. The frequency distribution of this energy provides a unique and reproducible spectral pattern
