Patent Document ID: 20090303471
Application ID: 11645132
Patent Status: 0

Claim One:
1. A method comprising: irradiating a sample with animal-safe ultra-violet radiation to thereby generate emitted photons; obtaining a fluorescence data set based on the emitted photons; first searching a fluorescence database in accordance with the fluorescence data set in order to identify a known fluorescence data set from said fluorescence database, wherein said fluorescence database contains a plurality of known fluorescence data sets, and wherein each known florescence data set is associated with one or more of the following: a known explosive compound, a formulation additive of explosive material and a binder of explosive material: if said first searching identifies a known fluorescence data set from said fluorescence database, identifying an area of interest in the sample based on the known fluorescence data set identified in said first searching and irradiating the area of interest with substantially monochromatic radiation to thereby generate scattered photons from said area of interest; obtaining a Raman data set based on said scattered photons; second searching a Raman database in accordance with the Raman data set in order to identify a known Raman data set from said Raman database, wherein said Raman database contains a plurality of known Raman data sets, and wherein each known Raman data set is associated with a known explosive compound; and identifying an explosive compound in the area of interest based on the known Raman data set identified by said second searching.