Detecting explosives, whether they’re tucked into the roadside rubbish on a narrow street in Helmand Province or stashed in someone’s undergarments at the airport, can be difficult to do. But UK researchers have developed a potent new tool for sniffing out combustible contraband by creating a novel laser mechanism that can sense explosive molecules at concentrations below 10 parts per billion.
The new sensor tech relies on “pumping” a specific type of plastic called polyfluorene with photons. When polyfluorene is bombarded with light, it emits laser light. Molecules given off by TNT and similar explosives often present in improvised bombs react with that “plastic laser,” interfering with the light it emits to a detectable degree. That interference suggests the presence of explosives in the very near vicinity.
Source: popsci
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