A single device that could screen passengers and their baggage for anthrax, viruses, explosives and nerve gas would be an airport security manager’s dream.
Now the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California claims to have a candidate for just such a device. It uses a single-particle mass spectrometer, which can detect airborne particles as small as a micrometre across by briefly firing a powerful laser at them. This creates charged fragments that when passed between electrically charged plates can be identified by their speed and direction of flight.
The technology has proved able to identify biological particles, noxious chemicals and…
