ABSTRACT
Raman spectroscopy of chemical, biological, and explosive (CBE) materials provides a high-specicity means to determine whether an unknown material is a CBE compound, is related to or a precursor for a CBE, or is simply nonhazardous/nonthreatening. During the last two decades, advancements in lasers, electronics, optics, and miniaturized computing systems have enabled the development of compact Raman instruments that mobilize this capability from the lab to theater. However, even with these advancements, the traditional visible and near-infrared (NIR) Raman instruments are still plagued with two major issues: (1) naturally occurring and materialrelated uorescence emissions that interfere with and obscure the Raman scattering, and (2) an overall low sensitivity of Raman measurement. These two problems reduce the probability of detection and increase false negatives.
