Standoff detection of chemical and biological threats using miniature widely tunable QCLs

Standoff detection and identification of chemical threats has been the "holy grail" of detection instruments. The advantages of such capability are well understood, since it allows detection of the chemical threats without contact, eliminating possible operator and equipment contamination and the need for subsequent decontamination of both. In the case of explosives detection, standoff detection might enable detection of the threat at safe distances outside the blast zone. A natural extension of this capability would be to also detect and identify biological threats in a standoff mode and there are ongoing efforts to demonstrate such capability.