INVESTIGATION ON THE ENHANCEMENT OF RAMAN SIGNAL AND

FLUORESCENT ORGANIC MATERIALS FOR EXPLOSIVES DETECTION

SAKSHI GUPTA
Instrument Design Development Centre (IDDC), IIT Delhi

ABSTRACT
Due to extensive use of explosives for terrorist activities, detection of explosives is of major
concern. The need for sensitive and reliable detection of explosives to protect the human life,
require advanced technologies. A system that is capable of detecting hazardous materials should
be capable of detecting large number of known explosives with high sensitivity and low false
alarm rate. In addition to this, the system should be operational from a safe stand-off range.
Numerous techniques have been employed for the detection of explosives. Explosives have very
low vapor pressure and when concealed, the vapor pressure is further lowered down to a sub-ppb
level. Laser based techniques are the most suitable techniques for explosive detection, because of
their special properties such as long distance propagation of intense energy and wavelength
specificity. With the evolution of laser sources and detectors, prospects of laser based explosives
detection has also evolved.
The present thesis discusses in detail about various explosives detection techniques, a suitable
and reliable technique for development of a stand-off explosives detection system and some
novel techniques to enhance the sensitivity of the system. A UV Raman spectroscopy based
explosives detection system is developed for detection of explosives and explosive derivatives
from stand-off distance. The system is successfully tested over a range of 40 m. The system has a
sensitivity of 0.1% at 5 m. The system has a spin-off that it can be used for laser induced
fluorescence based detection of chemical and bio-agents. A novel technique for the enhancement
of Raman signal in spontaneous Raman setups have been established where multiple beams
generated from the same source are used for the excitation of the sample. A compact and
common path optical setup using cube beam splitters placed in a tilted position have been
established for multiple beam generation. Gold nanostructured substrates with nanopillars inside
square nanoholes have been used for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopic studies for lowest
limit of detection of the analyte and multiplexed detection of analytes on the same substrate. A
fluorescence based technique is also explored for its usage as a sensor for explosives detection by
studying fluorescence quenching of dye doped porous sol-gel silica matrix co-doped with
explosive agents.