Scientists at Princeton University have just made a breakthrough in laser technology, that they say, might be able to be used to find explosives. It works by the laser beam "exciting" the molecules in the air, which causes the air itself to create a return laser beam, and then by recording the changes in the return pulse, they can identify the chemical makeup of the target. Apparently this method works quite differently than previous laser tracking methods, which normally work by measuring the amount of light reflected back off the target, a method that can't be used for identifying objects, but only for tracking air density or distance.
Currently however, the technology works only at close range (1.5 feet in their most recent test), but they hope develop it to the point where it could be mounted on a moving vehicle, and then used to search for landmines or other explosives.
(EurekAlert.org)
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