Filamentation “remote” sensing of chemical and biological agents/pollutants using only one femtosecond laser source

Abstract

All matters in the path of filaments induced by an intense femtosecond laser pulse propagating in air could be fragmented and result in the emission of characteristic fluorescence spectra from the excited fragments. The fluorescence spectra exhibit specific signatures (fingerprints) that can be used for the identification of various substances including chemical and biological species. In this paper, we present an overview of the recent progress in our laboratory concerning the “remote” sensing of chemical and biological agents/pollutants in air using filamentation-induced nonlinear fluorescence techniques.