Standoff Raman hyperspectral imaging detection of explosives

A novel sensor concept for optical standoff detection of explosives that combines Raman hyperspectral imaging and laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is described. Conceptually, the standoff optical sensor trades off the high sensitivity of LIBS elemental analysis with the high specificity of Raman molecular analysis to provide, overall, a high sensitivity, low false alarm rate standoff identification strategy for explosives on surfaces. In this paper, Raman hyperspectral imaging results are presented in an initial assessment of the standoff Raman detection performance.