Technologies combined into portable spectrometer to rapidly detect harmful materials

Dr Peter Rentzepis, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University, holds a patent for the hand-held smartphone -based Raman spectrometer system. Rentzepis’ invention allows the user to make non-invasive identifications of potentially harmful chemicals or materials in the field. 

This new Raman spectrometer system integrates lenses, a diode laser and a diffraction grating in combination with a smartphone camera to record the Raman spectrum. Peaks in the spectrum provide detailed data about the chemical composition and molecular structure of a substance, depending on their intensities and positions.

To use the device, a smartphone is placed behind the transmission grating with the camera facing the grating, ready to record the Raman spectrum. A laser shoots a beam into a sample of unknown material, such as a bacterium, on a slide. The camera records the spectrum, and when paired with an appropriate smartphone application/database, this handheld instrument can enable rapid materials identification on site.