Electronic Military & Defense magazine was developed for engineers, program managers, project managers, and those involved in the design and development of electronic and electro-optic systems for military, defense, and aerospace applications.
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Raman is typically done with lasers in the 244 nm to 364 nm wavelength region. In particular, excitation in the region from 210 nm to 260 nm — where quartz transmits light and fluorescence does not interfere with the measurements — is used to push the limits of detection of explosives relative to conventional 785 nm Raman. There are many advantages associated with UV Raman including resonance enhancement with some molecules, fluorescence suppression (fluorescence occurs beyond the region where the Raman signal is acquired), and increased sensitivity due to the use of a shorter excitation wavelength. Limitations of UV Raman include the availability of lasers and sharp laser edge filters (the smaller UV bandwidth requires sharper edge filters) and the potential for sample damage due to the use of higher energy excitation in the UV. What's Next For Raman Spectroscopy? Advances in power and thermal management will drive Raman forward in this century and beyond. Improvements in power and thermal management will enable more stable measurements. More stable measurements will result in higher quality data. Higher quality data will require less processing. With less processing, power needs will decrease and measurement speeds will increase. The ability to reduce power will then enable smaller instruments, decreasing the payload for soldiers in the field (Figure 4). Other challenges to the advancement of Raman include the need for a highly dynamic, adaptable technique for the detection of a wide array of unknown hazards like those faced in the battlefield. C o n f i d e n t i d e n t i f i c a t i o n in this situation will require large databases and high processing speed to search the database quickly. Database encryption will be required to ensure data security. The commonly employed cloud storage of large databases with wireless and Bluetooth communication will not be viable options in the battlefield where there is always the risk of hackers accessing instruments or databases and changing the results reported by a device in the field. In their place, secured networks of sensors using cloud- or cluster- based communications will be used to update databases and coordinate battlefield sensing and other tactical assets. Battlefield instruments will also have to be designed carefully to avoid the ability for reverse engineering and device tampering that could put soldiers at risk. Finally, one of the biggest challenges faced by Raman today is the ability to get the instrumentation into the hands of more researchers and educators. These are the bright minds that will come up with the next generation of Raman instruments and techniques to overcome today's limitations and move Raman forward. Raman instrumentation must be more accessible in the educational setting so it can be used for training the next generation of Raman scientists and engineers. The major hurdle to improving accessibility is the price point for today's Raman systems. There is a critical need for lower-cost Raman systems priced at half to even a quarter of the cost of a typical Raman system today. High performance is not needed for this purpose. Lower-cost Raman systems good enough to demonstrate the technique and spark the creativity and minds of the next generation are all that are needed to continue moving Raman forward so it can be used to solve a wider range of problems and measurement challenges in the future. Conclusion After more than 20 years of innovation, optical sensing with miniature spectroscopy components is more robust, providing higher performance than ever before. Continuous advances in technology and the ongoing miniaturization of optics have enabled miniature components to shrink in size without sacrificing performance. These miniature optical components are at the heart of robust instrumentation designed to provide the speed, accuracy, and ease of use required for the battlefield. As we move further into the 21 st century, battlefield-ready devices will get even smaller and easier to use, lessening the burden on our soldiers while ensuring their safety and security. These advances will come as we spark the minds of future generations by making Raman more accessible to our educators and researchers. It is their innovations that will create the next generation of portable instrumentation designed to protect our brave soldiers in the field. Technology Electronic Military & Defense Annual Resource, 4th Edition 18 Yvette Mattley has an M.S. in biology from the University of South Florida where her thesis work focused on the cellular stress response as a biomarker of environmental contamination. Mattley has a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of South Florida where her dissertation work focused on the use of UV/VIS spectroscopy for the characterization of whole blood and blood components. Mattley joined Ocean Optics after graduation with a focus on the development of spectroscopy-based products and applications. During her career, Mattley has been associated with or performed hundreds of application studies and released several application-specific products. Later, as a member of the Ocean Optics Engineering Division, she collaborated on product development and helped to establish an OEM engineering team to provide technical support and guidance to OEM customers. Mattley's years of experience with modular spectroscopy solutions include the application of Raman spectroscopy to real- world samples and problem solving. She is currently a senior applications scientist providing technical product support and applications expertise. Figure 4: Handheld instruments like the IDRaman mini (Ocean Optics) bring the sophistication of the laboratory technique to the field.