Rapid Non-Contact Detection of Chemical Warfare Agents by Laser Photoacoustic Spectroscopy
Luca Fiorani,
Claudio Ciceroni,
Isabella Giardina,
Fabio Pollastrone
Affiliations
Luca Fiorani
Diagnostics and Metrology Laboratory, Physical Technologies and Security Division, Nuclear Department, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Via Enrico Fermi 45, 00044 Frascati, Italy
Claudio Ciceroni
Diagnostics and Metrology Laboratory, Physical Technologies and Security Division, Nuclear Department, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Via Enrico Fermi 45, 00044 Frascati, Italy
Isabella Giardina
Diagnostics and Metrology Laboratory, Physical Technologies and Security Division, Nuclear Department, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Via Enrico Fermi 45, 00044 Frascati, Italy
Fabio Pollastrone
Diagnostics and Metrology Laboratory, Physical Technologies and Security Division, Nuclear Department, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, Via Enrico Fermi 45, 00044 Frascati, Italy
Nerve agents have recently been used in battlefield operations, espionage wars, and terrorist attacks. These compounds, like some pesticides, cause organophosphate poisoning. The rapid, noncontact detection of a sarin simulant in the liquid phase has been demonstrated at the Diagnostics and Metrology Laboratory of the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development using laser photoacoustic spectroscopy, an infrared absorption technology. The first measurements, carried out with an experimental system based on a quantum cascade laser and developed for the assessment of food authenticity in the “fingerprint region”, show that a detection limit of one nanolitre is within the reach of the instrument when chemometric analysis is applied.
