(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- Scientists at JILA and collaborators have demonstrated an improved laser-based “molecular fingerprinting” technique that picks out traces of key hydrogen-containing molecules and other molecules from a billion other particles in a gas in just 30 seconds or less—performance suitable for breathalyzers for diagnosing disease, measuring trace gases in the atmosphere, detecting security threats, and other applications. JILA is a joint institute of the University of Colorado at Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Described in Optics Express, the research extends the range of an existing NIST/JILA invention to cover the mid-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. This is a critical range, because it includes the frequencies associated with strong molecular vibrations, including various hydrogen bonds. The technology thus can identify a much wider variety of molecules, including virtually any containing hydrogen—the most common element in the universe—and can measure lower concentration levels than before.

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