Designing An Ultrasensitive 'Optical Nose' For Chemicals, ScienceDaily Bookmark and Share

Excerpts: A laser-based method for identifying a single atom or molecule hidden among 10 trillion others soon may find its way from the laboratory to the real world. (...) the technique is believed to be more than 1,000 times more sensitive than conventional methods. (...) hopes to commercialize the method as an "optical nose" for atmospheric monitoring. The portable sensors would rapidly identify chemicals in a gas sample based on the frequencies of light they absorb. Other applications eventually may include detection of chemical weapons and land mines, patient breath analysis for medical diagnosis or monitoring, and industrial detection of leaks in subterranean pipes (...).