Stand-off and up-close Raman detection of nitrates buried in sand and soils

Raman measurements, using a 785nm laser, are taken of Ammonium Nitrate and Sodium Nitrate buried in sand. Nitrate is kept in clear plastic containers and buried underneath sand at various depths. Raman measurements are then taken at distances of 5m and 20m, with the sand being completely dry as well as completely wet. A different set of experiments was conducted with Nitrate buried in sand in a glass container, where no Raman signal was seen in dry sand. Water was then added at the edge of the container and allowed to migrate to the bottom. Raman measurements are then taken at a distance of 7mm over time to detect Nitrates brought to the surface by water as it wicks to the surface.

[1]  Steven R. Emory,et al.  Probing Single Molecules and Single Nanoparticles by Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering , 1997, Science.

[2]  Howell G M Edwards,et al.  In-situ detection of single particles of explosive on clothing with confocal Raman microscopy. , 2009, Talanta.

[3]  Roger J. Green,et al.  Remote identification of chemicals concealed behind clothing using near infrared spectroscopy. , 2011, Analytical methods : advancing methods and applications.

[4]  Richard L. McCreery,et al.  Raman Spectroscopy for Chemical Analysis , 2000 .

[5]  Emmanuel Rinnert,et al.  Surface enhanced Raman scattering optimization of gold nanocylinder arrays: Influence of the localized surface plasmon resonance and excitation wavelength , 2010 .

[6]  Howell G. M. Edwards,et al.  Raman spectroscopy and security applications: the detection of explosives and precursors on clothing , 2009 .

[7]  Jin Hyuk Chung,et al.  Standoff Raman Spectroscopic Detection of Explosive Molecules , 2013 .

[8]  A. Pettersson,et al.  Laser-based standoff detection of explosives: a critical review , 2009, Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry.

[9]  R. Dasari,et al.  Single Molecule Detection Using Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) , 1997 .

[10]  Peter Vandenabeele,et al.  Practical Raman Spectroscopy - An Introduction: Vandenabeele/Practical Raman Spectroscopy - An Introduction , 2013 .

[11]  R. McCreery,et al.  Raman Spectroscopy for Chemical Analysis: McCreery/Raman Spectroscopy , 2005 .

[12]  M. Mehicic,et al.  Practical Raman Spectroscopy : Springer Verlag, Berlin, 1989 (ISBN 3-540-50254-8). viii + 157 pp. Price DM 78.00 , 1990 .

[13]  Michael Gaft,et al.  Standoff laser-based spectroscopy for explosives detection , 2007, SPIE Security + Defence.

[14]  Michael Gaft,et al.  UV gated Raman spectroscopy for standoff detection of explosives , 2008 .