Self-channeling of femtosecond laser pulses for rapid and efficient standoff detection of energetic materials

Author

Baudelet, Matthieu ; Richardson, Martin ; Sigman, Michael

Author_Institution

Townes laser Inst., Univ. of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

fYear

2009

fDate

11-12 May 2009

Firstpage

472

Lastpage

476

Abstract

Self-channeling properties of high intensity laser pulses are used to extend spectroscopic methods as LIBS to standoff. This work shows the advantages of using self-channeled femtosecond pulses in laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy of polymeric micrometer-size thin films in a standoff configuration at 12 meters. We show the possibility of trace analysis on surfaces and the importance of molecular signal as a signature for carbon-based samples.

Keywords

high-speed optical techniques; laser beams; measurement by laser beam; polymer films; spectrochemical analysis; thin films; visible spectra; LIBS; energetic material; femtosecond laser pulse; laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy; molecular signal; polymeric micrometer-size thin film; self-channeling; spectroscopic method; standoff detection; trace analysis; Chemical lasers; Electric breakdown; Laser beams; Laser modes; Laser theory; Optical materials; Optical propagation; Optical pulses; Spectroscopy; Ultrafast optics;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Technologies for Homeland Security, 2009. HST '09. IEEE Conference on

Conference_Location

Boston, MA

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-4178-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/THS.2009.5168075

Filename

5168075