We are actively investigating the use of Raman spectroscopy for proximal standoff detection of chemicals and explosive materials on surfaces. These studies include Raman Chemical Imaging of contaminated fingerprints for forensic attribution and the assessments of commercial handheld or portable Raman instruments operating with near-infrared (IR) as well as ultraviolet (UV) laser excitation specifically developed for on-the-move reconnaissance of chemical contamination. As part of these efforts, we have measured the Raman cross sections of chemical agents, toxic industrial chemicals, and explosives from the UV to NIR. We have also measured and modeled the effect interrogation angle has on the Raman return from droplets on man-made surfaces. Realistic droplet distributions have been modeled and tested against variations in surface scan patterns and laser spot size for determining the optimum scan characteristics for detection of relevant surface contamination.

The main objective of this project is to study the difference between aged and un-aged post-blast residues and nonblasted explosives. Sand from the post-blast scenes was subjected to accelerated aging (temperature, light and addition of water) over a period of 20 weeks. The samples were aged as matrix-free pure compounds and as post-blast sand. Several explosive materials were detonated over sand-filled containers and selected residues were separated and detected with HPLC/UV. Separation and detection methods using GC/MS and LC/UV were developed. This screening study of aged post-blast residues revealed that most of the residues reached low or undetectable concentration within a period of eight weeks of aging. This degradation rate theory can be applied both for the temperature- and UV-aged samples. The half-life degradation time (t_1/2) was estimated and most of the detected residues reach t_1/2 within five weeks. No trends with significant difference can be seen between the UV- and temperature-aged samples.

A pulsed (4.4 ns pulse length) frequency doubled Nd:YAG laser, operating at 10 Hz, was used to generate Raman scattering from samples at a distance of 12 m. The scattered light was collected by a 6 inch telescope and the Raman spectrum recorded using an Acton SP-2750 spectrograph coupled to a gated ICCD detector. To extend the potential applications further, employing a spatial offset between the point where the laser hit the sample and the focus of the telescope on the sample, enabled collection of Raman photons that were predominantly generated inside the sample and not from its surface. This is especially effective when the content of concealed objects should be analysed. Raman spectra of H₂O₂ in a 1.5 mm thick, fluorescent HDPE plastic bottle were recorded at a distance of 12 m. From the recorded spectra it was possible to determine the H2O2 concentration in the concentration range from 2-30%. Stand-off Raman spectra of eleven potentially dangerous chemicals (commercial and improvised explosives) were recorded at a distance of 100 m.

For Raman spectroscopy the ability to detect is often limited by the existence and quality of the reference library to which field spectra are compared. Developing such databases is often labor- and resource-intensive; typically the generated data are not transferred to other instruments. Still other considerations may exist for comparing data at visible and ultraviolet excitation wavelengths such as resonance enhancement. However, for the common near-infrared wavelengths of 785, 830, 960, 1047 and 1064 nm where this is normally of a lesser concern, it is logical to consider whether data can be ported from one spectrometer to another so as to obviate the expensive and time-consuming process of generating reference data for each system. The present experiment generated a list of 125 chemical and common substances and formed a database from their corresponding 1064 nm spectra. The same molecules were then measured using a 785 nm system. The new spectra were treated as "unknowns" and compared to the 1064 nm database using a commercial search algorithm. We found that at least 108 of the 125 spectra recorded at 785 nm were correctly identified using the search algorithm. For the few that were incorrectly identified, in most cases the spectra were extremely similar or the 785 nm signal was degraded due to fluorescence, as would occur regardless of reference data. Our results indicate that if the spectrometers are properly calibrated on both their wavelength and intensity axes, "foreign" data recorded at a different NIR wavelength can be successfully used as reference libraries.

We describe a fully automated and autonomous air-borne biothreat detection system for biosurveillance applications. The system, including the nucleic-acid-based detection assay, was designed, built and shipped by Microfluidic Systems Inc (MFSI), a new subsidiary of PositiveID Corporation (PSID). Our findings demonstrate that the system and assay unequivocally identify pathogenic strains of Bacillus anthracis, Yersinia pestis, Francisella tularensis, Burkholderia mallei, and Burkholderia pseudomallei. In order to assess the assay's ability to detect unknown samples, our team also challenged it against a series of blind samples provided by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). These samples included natural occurring isolated strains, near-neighbor isolates, and environmental samples. Our results indicate that the multiplex assay was specific and produced no false positives when challenged with in house gDNA collections and DHS provided panels. Here we present another analytical tool for the rapid identification of nine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention category A and B biothreat organisms.

Optical methods can offer good sensitivity for detecting small amounts of chemicals and biologicals, and as these methods mature, are some of the few techniques that can offer true standoff detection. For detection of biological species, determining the viability is clearly important: Certain species of gram-positive bacteria are capable of forming endospores, specialized structures that arise when living conditions become unfavorable or little growth medium is available. Spores are also resistant to many chemicals as well as changes in heat or pH; such spores can remain dormant from months to years until more favorable conditions arise, resulting in germination back to the vegetative state. This persistence characteristic of bacterial spores allows for contamination of a surface (e.g. food or medical equipment) even after the surface has been nominally cleaned. Bacterial spores have also been used as biological weapons, as in the case of B. anthracis. Thus, having rapid analytical methods to determine a spore's viability after attempts to clean a given environment is crucial. The increasing availability of portable spectrometers may provide a key to such rapid onsite analysis. The present study was designed to determine whether infrared spectroscopy may be used to differentiate between viable vs. dead B. subtilis and B. atrophaeus spores. Preliminary results show that the reproducible differences in the IR signatures can be used to identify the viable vs. the autoclaved (dead) spores.

The capability to detect toxic chemicals and explosive materials through a wide range of container types has a variety of applications, including liquid screening at airport entrance points. Conventional Raman spectroscopy is commonly used for chemical detection, but can result in an intense spectral response due to scattering and/or fluorescence from the container when used for through-barrier applications. Such a response can reduce the effectiveness of the technique for analysis of the container contents by swamping the Raman signature of the target material. By producing two spectra containing different contributions from the container and the contents, spatially offset Raman spectroscopy (SORS) allows a spectrum of the contents to be obtained, even through fluorescing containers. This innovative technique could provide a through-barrier detection capability for a wider range of containers than conventional Raman spectroscopy, including containers made from coloured glass and opaque plastic. In this paper, the use of SORS for through-barrier detection is introduced, and its ability to detect a range of analytes through a range of container materials evaluated. The potential advantages of using a longer excitation wavelength (e.g. 1064 nm) to reduce sample fluorescence are also explored, focussing on target analytes mixed with fluorescent materials.

Recently, Spatially Offset Raman Spectroscopy (SORS) has been discussed as a novel method for the screening of liquids, aerosols and gels (LAGs) at airports and for other security applications. SORS is an optical spectroscopic method which enables the precise chemical identification of substances from a reference list and, due to the rich spectral information, has an inherently high probability of detection and low false alarm rate. The method is generally capable of screening substances inside non-metallic containers such as plastic and glass bottles. SORS is typically successful through opaque plastic and coloured glass, which are often challenging for conventional backscatter Raman spectroscopy. SORS is performed in just a few seconds by shining a laser light onto the container and then measuring the Raman signal at the excitation point but also at one or more offset positions. Each measurement has different relative orthogonal contributions from the container and contents Raman spectra, so that, with no prior knowledge, the pure Raman spectra of both the container and contents can be extracted - either by scaled subtraction or via multivariate statistical methods in an automated process. In this paper, the latest results will be described from a prototype SORS device designed for aviation security and the advantages and limitations of SORS will be discussed.

Threats associated with bioaerosol weapons have been around for several decades and have been mostly associated with terrorist activities or rogue nations. Up to the turn of the millennium, defence concepts against such menaces relied mainly on point or in-situ detection technologies. Over the last 10 years, significant efforts have been deployed by multiple countries to supplement the limited spatial coverage of a network of one or more point bio-detectors using lidar technology. The addition of such technology makes it possible to detect within seconds suspect aerosol clouds over area of several tens of square kilometers and track their trajectories. These additional capabilities are paramount in directing presumptive ID missions, mapping hazardous areas, establishing efficient counter-measures and supporting subsequent forensic investigations. In order to develop such capabilities, Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) and the Chemical, Biological, Radiological-Nuclear, and Explosives Research and Technology Initiative (CRTI) have supported two major demonstrations based on spectrally resolved Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF) lidar: BioSense, aimed at defence military missions in wide open spaces, and SR-BioSpectra, aimed at surveillance of enclosed or semienclosed wide spaces common to defence and public security missions. This article first reviews briefly the modeling behind these demonstration concepts. Second, the lidar-adapted and the benchtop bioaerosol LIF chambers (BSL1), developed to challenge the constructed detection systems and to accelerate the population of the library of spectral LIF properties of bioaerosols and interferents of interest, will be described. Next, the most recent test and evaluation (T&E) results obtained with SR-BioSpectra and BioSense are reported. Finally, a brief discussion stating the way ahead for a complete defence suite is provided.

Homeland security and first responders are often faced with safety situations involving the identification of unknown volatile chemicals. Examples include industrial fires, chemical warfare, industrial leak, etc. The Improved Compact ATmospheric Sounding Interferometer (iCATSI) sensor has been developed to investigate the standoff detection and identification of toxic industrial chemicals (TICs), chemical warfare agents (CWA) and other chemicals. iCATSI is a combination of the CATSI instrument, a standoff differential FTIR optimised for the characterization of chemicals and the MR-i, the hyperspectral imaging spectroradiometer of ABB Bomem based on the proven MR spectroradiometers. The instrument is equipped with a dual-input telescope to perform optical background subtraction. The resulting signal is the difference between the spectral radiance entering each input port. With that method, the signal from the background is automatically removed from the signal of the target of interest. The iCATSI sensor is able to detect, spectrally resolve and identify 5 meters plumes up to 5 km range. The instrument is capable of sensing in the VLWIR (cut-off near 14 μm) to support research related to standoff chemical detection. In one of its configurations, iCATSI produces three 24 × 16 spectral images per second from 5.5 to 14 μm at a spectral resolution of 16 cm^-1. In another configuration, iCATSI produces from two to four spectral images per second of 256 × 256 pixels from 8 to 13 μm with the same spectral resolution. Overview of the capabilities of the instrument and results from tests and field trials will be presented.

Previous studies showed that imaging infrared spectrometry allows remote detection and identification of traces of potentially hazardous liquid surface contaminants. Because the spectra depend on the liquid (composition and thickness), the background material, and on the illumination of the surface, a comprehensive radiative transfer model has been developed and applied to calculate synthetic spectra which are used to approximate measured spectra; these simulated spectra are compared to experimentally acquired data. The model requires spectra of the complex refractive indices of the liquids. These spectra were calculated by applying the Kramers-Kronig relations to spectra of the linear absorption coefficient, which are contained in commonly available spectral libraries. As the agreement between measured and modelled spectra of liquids on different surfaces is excellent, the results confirm the validity of the model.

The ability to remotely locate and classify potential liquid hazards is desirable in a variety of civilian and military applications. Candidate technologies to satisfy these requirements include the fusion of imaging and optical spectroscopy. Hence, a novel system based on IR Negative Contrast Imaging (NCI) is presented. The NCI system is based on an OPO comprising a periodically-poled LiNbO3 (PPLN) crystal of fanned grating design that operates in both the shortwave and midwave IR spectral regions (1.5 - 1.9 μm and 2.4 - 3.8 μm, respectively). Wavelength tuning is achieved by translating the PPLN crystal within the 1064 nm pump beam. System size and complexity are minimised by the use of InGaAs and Zn doped MCT single element detectors and the intracavity OPO design. Images are composed by raster scanning the monochromatic beam over the scene of interest; the reflection and/or absorption of the incident radiation by target chemicals and their surrounding environment provide a method for spatial location of the hazard. The NCI has been employed to detect liquid chemicals on a variety of surfaces; initial results of laboratory investigations are presented here.

We investigate the efficiency of spectral dynamics analysis (SDA) method for the detection of both explosives hidden under various substances and explosives in their mixture. The detection occurs using the THz signal reflected from the substance. The main difficulty concludes in multi-reflection of THz wave from the substance, in which the explosive is packed. Our investigation shows that because of their structure these substances can be opaque for THz radiation at certain frequencies. Nevertheless, this question requires additional investigation. The action of the THz pulse, inclined at various angles to the sample surface, on substance is analyzed. It should be stressed that at inclined falling of THz wave, one can get more information about explosive in comparison with the case of normal falling of THz wave. As a result, the growth of the detection probability takes place. New features demonstrate the mixture of explosives. Under certain conditions on concentrations of substances in the mixture, the compound substance displays own properties not as mechanical combination of properties of initial substances during the time interval of action the main THz pulse. For the detection and identification in this case, one needs to use the long time interval signal from the substance. Other requirement consists in inclined falling of THz pulse to detect and identify the explosive.

Following the 2001 Anthrax letter attacks in the USA, there has been a continuing interest in techniques that can detect or identify so-called 'white powder' concealed in envelopes. Electromagnetic waves (wavelengths 100-500 μm) in the terahertz frequency range penetrate paper and have short enough wavelengths to provide good resolution images; some materials also have spectroscopic signatures in the terahertz region. We report on an experimental study into the use of terahertz imaging and spectroscopy for mail screening. Spectroscopic signatures of target powders were measured and, using a specially designed test rig, a number of imaging methods based on reflection, transmission and scattering were investigated. It was found that, contrary to some previous reports, bacterial spores do not appear to have any strong spectroscopic signatures which would enable them to be identified. Imaging techniques based on reflection imaging and scattering are ineffective in this application, due to the similarities in optical properties between powders of interest and paper. However, transmission imaging using time-of-flight of terahertz pulses was found to be a very simple and sensitive method of detecting small quantities (25 mg) of powder, even in quite thick envelopes. An initial feasibility study indicates that this method could be used as the basis of a practical mail screening system.

Experiments have been performed to demonstrate that near infrared (NIR) transmission through a wide range of clothing materials is possible. Studies have shown that the characteristics of NIR transmission are affected by both the type of fibre used, and the weave pattern. A series of experiments has indicated that NIR transmission is also dependent on other variables such as fabric porosity and dye colour. It is shown that, in many cases, transmission coefficients are sufficiently high that imaging and spectroscopy of objects hidden behind clothing samples should be possible. However, while transmission through clothing at NIR wavelengths in the 750-1,700 nm range is often more effective than in the visible or IR regions, the fabrics themselves will modify the transmitted signal in terms of spatial effects, intensity and spectral content. The paper also describes the possible use of near infrared signals to identify objects that are hidden behind clothing layers. This can be done using spectroscopy. It is important, however, to distinguish the various contributions that exist within the backscattered signal. A set of careful laboratory experiments have demonstrated that transmission through a set of different clothing fabrics does modify the spectral content of signals, but that the spectrum of a particular chemical can still be identified, provided certain steps are taken. These involve a set of careful calibration measurements, and the use of processing techniques for the retrieval of data. It will be shown that this is possible for both granular solids and selected liquids.

Using the passive THz imaging system developed by the CNU-THz laboratory, we capture the passive THz image of human body with forbidden objects hidden under opaque clothes. We demonstrate the possibility of significant improving the quality of the image. Our approach bases on the application of spatial filters, developed by us for computer treatment of passive THz imaging. The THz imaging system is constructed with accordance to well known passive THz imaging principles and to the THz quasi-optical theory. It contains a scanning mechanism, which has a detector approximately with 1200μm central wavelength, a data acquisition card and a microcomputer. To get a clear imaging of object we apply a sequence of the spatial filters to the image and spectral transforms of the image. The treatment of imaging from the passive THz device is made by computer code. The performance time of treatment of the image, containing about 5000 pixels, is less than 0.1 second. To illustrate the efficiency of developed approach we detect the liquid explosive, knife, pistol and metal plate hidden under opaque clothes. The results obtained demonstrate the high efficiency of our approach for the detection and recognition of the hidden objects and are very promising for the real security application.

In this work we describe the synthesis of a new ephedrine derivative with a carbon linker featuring an amino reactive group, and its conjugation to the glutamine binding protein (GlnBP) from E. coli as a carrier protein for the production of polyclonal antibodies in rabbits against ephedrine. Proof-of-principle results that an efficient SPR-based indirect competitive immunoassay for the detection and quantification of ephedrine are presented. The detection limit of this assay was found to be about 33ng/ml.

Recent years have seen significant investment and increasingly effective use of Video Analytics (VA) systems to detect intrusion or attacks in sterile areas. Currently there are a number of manufacturers who have achieved the Imagery Library for Intelligent Detection System (i-LIDS) primary detection classification performance standard for the sterile zone detection scenario. These manufacturers have demonstrated the performance of their systems under evaluation conditions using an uncompressed evaluation video. In this paper we consider the effect on the detection rate of an i-LIDS primary approved sterile zone system using compressed sterile zone scenario video clips as the input. The preliminary test results demonstrate a change time of detection rate with compression as the time to alarm increased with greater compression. Initial experiments suggest that the detection performance does not linearly degrade as a function of compression ratio. These experiments form a starting point for a wider set of planned trials that the Home Office will carry out over the next 12 months.

People tracking in crowded scene have been a popular, and at the same time a very difficult topic in computer vision. It is mainly because of the difficulty for the acquisition of intrinsic signatures of targets from a single view of the scene. Many factors, such as variable illumination conditions and viewing angles, will induce illusive modification of intrinsic signatures of targets. The objective of this paper is to verify if colour constancy (CC) approach really helps people tracking in CCTV network system. We have testified a number of CC algorithms together with various colour descriptors, to assess the efficiencies of people recognitions from multi-camera i-LIDS data set via receiver operation characteristics (ROC). It is found that when CC is applied together with some form of colour restoration mechanisms such as colour transfer, it does improve people recognition by at least a factor of 2. An elementary luminance based CC coupled with a pixel based colour transfer algorithm have been developed and it is reported in this paper.

Human CCTV operators face several challenges in their task which can lead to missed events, people or associations, including: (a) data overload in large distributed multi-camera environments; (b) short attention span; (c) limited knowledge of what to look for; and (d) lack of access to non-visual contextual intelligence to aid search. Developing a system to aid human operators and alleviate such burdens requires addressing the problem of automatic re-identification of people across disjoint camera views, a matching task made difficult by factors such as lighting, viewpoint and pose changes and for which absolute scoring approaches are not best suited. Accordingly, we describe a distributed multi-camera tracking (MCT) system to visually aid human operators in associating people and objects effectively over multiple disjoint camera views in a large public space. The system comprises three key novel components: (1) relative measures of ranking rather than absolute scoring to learn the best features for matching; (2) multi-camera behaviour profiling as higher-level knowledge to reduce the search space and increase the chance of finding correct matches; and (3) human-assisted data mining to interactively guide search and in the process recover missing detections and discover previously unknown associations. We provide an extensive evaluation of the greater effectiveness of the system as compared to existing approaches on industry-standard i-LIDS multi-camera data.

A speed enhanced space variant correlation filer which has been designed to be invariant to change in orientation and scale of the target object but also to be spatially variant, i.e. the filter function becoming dependant on local clutter conditions within the image. The speed enhancement of the filter is due to the use of optimization techniques employing low-pass filtering to restrict kernel movement to be within regions of interest. The detection and subsequent identification capability of the two-stage process has been evaluated in highly cluttered backgrounds using both visible and thermal imagery acquired from civil and defense domains along with associated training data sets for target detection and classification. In this paper a series of tests have been conducted in multiple scenarios relating to situations that pose a security threat. Performance matrices comprised of peak-to-correlation energy (PCE) and peak-to-side lobe ratio (PSR) measurements of the correlation output have been calculated to allow the definition of a recognition criterion. The hardware implementation of the system has been discussed in terms of Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) chipsets with implementation bottle necks and their solution being considered.

A machine-assisted analysis of traces from crime scenes might be possible with the advent of new high-resolution non-destructive contact-less acquisition techniques for latent fingerprints. This requires reliable techniques for the automatic extraction of fingerprint features from latent and exemplar fingerprints for matching purposes using pattern recognition approaches. Therefore, we evaluate the NIST Biometric Image Software for the feature extraction and verification of contact-lessly acquired latent fingerprints to determine potential error rates. Our exemplary test setup includes 30 latent fingerprints from 5 people in two test sets that are acquired from different surfaces using a chromatic white light sensor. The first test set includes 20 fingerprints on two different surfaces. It is used to determine the feature extraction performance. The second test set includes one latent fingerprint on 10 different surfaces and an exemplar fingerprint to determine the verification performance. This utilized sensing technique does not require a physical or chemical visibility enhancement of the fingerprint residue, thus the original trace remains unaltered for further investigations. No particular feature extraction and verification techniques have been applied to such data, yet. Hence, we see the need for appropriate algorithms that are suitable to support forensic investigations.

Since decades, the age determination of latent fingerprint traces left at crime scenes is a challenge to forensic investigators, since fingerprint traces can often only be used in a lawsuit if they can be assigned to the specific time interval of a crime taking place. In this paper, we suggest a six-step framework on how an age determination scheme might be developed for a given application scenario using optical and non-invasive image sensory. We explain and discuss each step of such framework, using three different aging features (the binary pixel feature based on prior work as well as the novel aging features corrosion blob size and corrosion blob amount), which are based on the loss of contrast of a fingerprint on a hard disk platter surface as well as on corrosion properties of fingerprint residue applied to a copper coin surface. We furthermore evaluate different aspects of the scheme in practical experiments, to show its feasibility and conclude, that the steps 1, 3, 5 and 6 of the framework are comparatively easy to be realized, whereas the steps 2 (developing new aging features) and 4 (determining all significant influences on a given aging feature) are challenging, yet possible.

Latent fingerprints provide vital information in modern crime scene investigation. On frequently touched surfaces the fingerprints may overlap which poses a major problem for forensic analysis. In order to make such overlapping fingerprints available for analysis, they have to be separated. An additional evaluation of the sequence in which the fingerprints were brought onto the surface can help to reconstruct the progression of events. Advances in both tasks can considerably aid crime investigation agencies and are the subject of this work. Here, a statistical approach, initially devised for the separation of overlapping text patterns by Tonazzini et al.,1 is employed to separate overlapping fingerprints. The method involves a maximum a posteriori estimation of the single fingerprints and the mixing coefficients, computed by an expectation-maximization algorithm. A fingerprint age determination feature based on corrosion is evaluated for sequence estimation. The approaches are evaluated using 30 samples of overlapping latent fingerprints on two different substrates. The fingerprint images are acquired with a non-destructive chromatic white light surface measurement device, each sample containing exactly two fingerprints that overlap in the center of the image. Since forensic investigations rely on manual assessment of acquired fingerprints by forensics experts, a subjective scale ranging from 0 to 8 is used to rate the separation results. Our results indicate that the chosen method can separate overlapped fingerprints which exhibit strong differences in contrast, since results gradually improve with the growing contrast difference of the overlapping fingerprints. Investigating the effects of corrosion leads to a reliable determination of the fingerprints' sequence as the timespan between their leaving increases.

The detection of materials through containers is a vital capability for security screening applications at high risk locations, such as airports and checkpoints. Current detection procedures require suspect containers to be opened and the contents sampled, which is laborious and potentially hazardous to the operator. The capability to detect through-barrier would overcome these issues. Spatially Offset Raman Spectroscopy (SORS) is an innovative spectroscopic technique that avoids fluorescence and Raman scatter from containers, which can mask the Raman signature from the sample. This novel approach enables noninvasive detection of hazardous and benign materials through a wider range of container materials than is possible using conventional Raman spectroscopy. SORS spectra were acquired from explosive compounds and benign materials within a range of coloured glass and plastic containers. The SORS spectra were compared to the reference Raman signatures of the materials studied. Two data analysis methods were then applied to the resultant data to investigate the ability of SORS to detect the target materials through the barriers tested. Furthermore, the potential for reduction of sample fluorescence was investigated by using longer excitation wavelength (1064 nm) than is typically used in commercially available Raman instruments that use silicon detector technology. For some fluorescent samples, Raman spectral features that were masked by fluorescence at 785 nm were revealed at 1064 nm.

The series of novel unsymmetrical β--diketones substituted by functional groups with different donor-acceptor properties, as well as of their lanthanide complexes have been synthesized for the first time. The optical properties of these [2.2]paracyclophane-derived ligands and the lanthanide complexes were studied by UV-visible and luminescence spectroscopy. The energy of absorption maximum of these β--diketones correlates with donor-acceptor properties of functional groups and a size of the conjugated system. All β--diketonates synthesized exhibit broad emission spectra with red shifted maxima in comparison with isolated [2.2]paracyclophane moiety. The designed blue-emitting unsymmetrical β-diketones act as very efficient sensitizers of the Eu3+ emission with excitation wavelength up to 450 nm. Nonlinear optical properties have been studies for some β--diketones as well. Their average NLO susceptibility was found comparable with that of such well known NLO crystal as PNP.

A microscopic theory is developed to describe light-induced deformation of azobenzene polymers of different chemical structures: uncross-linked low-molecular-weight azobenzene polymers and cross-linked azobenzene polymers (azobenzene elastomers) bearing azobenzene chromophores in their strands. According to the microscopic theory the light-induced deformation is caused by reorientation of azobenzene chromophores with respect to the electric vector of the linearly polarized light, E. Theoretical calculations of the order parameter of short azobenzene molecules (oligomers) affected by the light show that the sign of the light-induced deformation (expansion / contraction along the vector E) depends strongly on the chemical structure of the oligomers. The conclusion of the theory about different signs of the light-induced deformation of low-molecular-weight azobenzene polymers is in an agreement with performed series of molecular dynamics simulations. Using the microscopic theory it is shown that cross-linked azobenzene polymers demonstrate the same light-induced deformation (expansion / contraction) as their low-molecular-weight analogues, i.e. polymers consisting of short azobenzene molecules whose chemical structure is the same as chain fragments of the elastomers.

When choosing a material to design infrared optics, an optical designer has to decide which material properties are most important to what they are trying to achieve. Factors include; cost, optical performance, index of material, sensor format, manufacturability, mechanical mounting and others. This paper will present an optical design that is made for a 640×480, 17μm sensor and is athermalized by using the material properties of chalcogenide glass and Germanium (Ge). The optical design will be a 3-element, f1.0 optic with an EFL of 20mm at 10μm. It consists of two Ge spherical lenses and a middle chalcogenide aspheric element. By using Ge and chalcogenide, this design utilizes the high index of Ge and combines it with the lower dn/dt of chalcogenide glass to provide an athermalized design without the use of additional electro-optical compensation inside the assembly. This study will start from the optical design process and explain the mechanical and optical properties of the design, then show the manufacturing process of molding an aspheric chalcogenide element. After the three elements are manufactured, they will be assembled and tested throughout the temperature range of -40 to 85°C to compare optical performance to design expectations. Ultimately, this paper will show that a high performance, athermalized optical assembly is possible to manufacture at a lower cost with the use of combining different infrared materials that allow for spherical Ge lenses and only one aspherical chalcogenide element which can be produced in higher volumes at lower costs through glass molding technology.

Recent developments of active imaging and remote sensing systems in security and defence community require comprehensive optical characterizations of man-made targets. Optical signature analysis of various targets implies a better and comprehensive understanding of reflectance properties such as Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) and Directional Hemispherical Reflectance (DHR). Measurements and modeling of optical signatures are valuable for target classification and identification. Onera, the French Aerospace Lab, has developed an original optical instrument to measure hyperspectral polarized BRDF. Measurements are carried out on various targets to provide relevant data to simulate actual and future active imaging devices. This paper reviews the design of the instrument and its hyperspectral calibration procedure in details. A new specific tensorial hyperspectral reflectance framework is introduced. Experimental results for reference Lambertian targets and airport targets are presented to illustrate the instrument capacities. A large optical properties database is build from these measurements for defence, security and industrial needs.

It is widely believed that quantum key distribution (QKD) has been proved unconditionally secure for realistic models applicable to various current experimental schemes. Here we summarize briefly why this is not the case, from both the viewpoints of fundamental quantitative security and applicable models of security analysis, with some morals drawn.

In any communication system, all data including encrypted data by the mathematical cipher are transmitted under the strict rule of the interface frame. Attacker can easily acquire the whole data the same as the data of legitimate users including the address, routing information and so on from the transmission line by tapping. This is very risky, especially for the secret sharing data center operations. So to hide the whole data in the transmission line is very attractive to ensure the high security level. This can be realized by Y-00 type random cipher that the ciphertext of simple mathematical cipher by PRNG is randomized by quantum noise and it gives a masking effect against the attacker's security analysis. This paper clarifies quantitative properties on the masking effect in the random cipher by Y-00 protocol, and shows the fact that a scheme by the intensity modulation may provide the greatest masking effect, even if the attacker employs the universal heterodyne receiver.

Quantum Key Distribution (QKD - also referred to as Quantum Cryptography) is a technique for secret key agreement. It has been shown that QKD rigged with Information-Theoretic Secure (ITS) authentication (using secret key) of the classical messages transmitted during the key distribution protocol is also ITS. Note, QKD without any authentication can trivially be broken by man-in-the-middle attacks. Here, we study an authentication method that was originally proposed because of its low key consumption; a two-step authentication that uses a publicly known hash function, followed by a secret strongly universal₂ hash function, which is exchanged each round. This two-step authentication is not information-theoretically secure but it was argued that nevertheless it does not compromise the security of QKD. In the current contribution we study intrinsic weaknesses of this approach under the common assumption that the QKD adversary has access to unlimited resources including quantum memories. We consider one implementation of Quantum Cryptographic protocols that use such authentication and demonstrate an attack that fully extract the secret key. Even including the final key from the protocol in the authentication does not rule out the possibility of these attacks. To rectify the situation, we propose a countermeasure that, while not information-theoretically secure, restores the need for very large computing power for the attack to work. Finally, we specify conditions that must be satisfied by the two-step authentication in order to restore information-theoretic security.

The six-state protocol is a discrete-variable protocol for quantum key distribution, that permits to tolerate a noisier channel than the BB84 protocol. In this work we provide a lower bound on the maximum achievable key rate of a practical implementation of the entanglement-based version of the six-state protocol. Regarding the experimental set-up we consider that the source is untrusted and the photon-number statistics is measured using photon-number-resolving detectors. We provide the formula for the key rate for a finite initial number of resources. As an illustration of the considered formalism, we calculate the key rate for the setting where the source produces entangled photon pairs via parametric down-conversion and the losses in the channel depend on the distance. As a result we find that the finite-key corrections for the considered scenario are not negligible and they should be considered in any practical analysis.

Quantum communication, in particular, quantum key distribution (QKD) is moving ever closer to real world implementation. However, for successful QKD system deployment, the QKD system components must be robustly designed and feature highly reliable operation. In this paper we focus on one important aspect of any quantum communication system: the single photon detector. In particular our interest is centered upon the InGaAs avalanche photodiode (APD) single photon detector operating in a self-differencing (SD) mode. Such a detector features high clock frequencies of up to 3GHz, high photon count rates as well as detection efficiencies approaching 20% with low afterpulsing. We show successful operation of a high bit rate QKD system using this SD-APD technology in a real world fiber network.

The scalar attributes of the optical field are considered as an approach to enhancing bit rates in quantum key distribution over free-space optical links. The implications of spatial-mode encoding to system aperture requirements are considered for rectilinear and azimuthal bases of phase modulation. Diffractive-optics-based approaches to generating and discriminating photons based on spatial mode characteristics are quantified through analysis and experimentation. Spatial modes based on phase modulation are generated via modulo-2π phase modulation with a liquid-crystal spatial light modulator (LC SLM). The phase and amplitude modulation associated with superpositions of phase modulated fields are achieved via computer-generated holography with single LC SLM. Transmission volume holograms are evaluated as a technique for de-multiplexing phase modulated modes and cascaded volume holograms are considered as an approach to performing projective measurements on optical fields.

In this paper, we present the architecture and results of the SwissQuantum quantum key distribution (QKD) network. This three nodes triangular quantum network was running from March 2009 to January 2011 in the Geneva metropolitan area. The three trusted nodes were located at the University of Geneva (Unige), the CERN and the University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland in Geneva (hepia Geneva). This quantum network was deployed to prove reliability of QKD in telecommunication network over a long period. To facilitate integration of QKD in telecommunication network, this quantum network was composed of three layers: a quantum layer, a key management layer, and an application layer. The keys are distributed in the first layer; they are handled in the second layer; and they are used in the third layer.