I never knew Agilent made Raman spectrometers, and then your comment at the end about civilian restrictions explained why they might be rare ;) Really impressive bit of kit, and great explanation! I wonder about substances dissolved in a solvent - same signature?
Me neither, I last left off working on the Ahura Truscan system development and validation for RM testing and some other interesting spectrometers. Unfortunately, the RAMAN spectrometer were more destructive compared to like the ATR FTIR or FTNIR systems I preferred where both need to use more advanced software, especially the later. So that system went forward more with the nutriceutical site. Seems like a different life at times and man do those that have the systems probably not use em from what I found in the service roles lack of forensics other than to rob in the jurisdictions I've been adversely impacted by and I'm guessing some get super pissed knowing how easy stuff can be detected. Though like the related NIST standards, technically they're used in space and even publicly drones have hyperspectral imaging so like spectra of each pixel, i.e. voxels. Didn't know Agilent made spectrometers at all either.
I tried various solvents. The result was a combined effect of the two substances. Unless of course a chemical reaction took place in which the new signature would be the result of the reaction plus any leftover unreacted compounds.
Spatially offset Raman spectroscopy was invented at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Harwell, UK around 2005. They then spun off a company which was acquired by Agilent in 2017. New SORS capabilities are still being developed at the (now) Agilent facility in Harwell. So, it's British. And, no, it doesn't leak oil.
TPS is finally hacking the algorithm: 1) First time I see him do thumbnail design. 2) Hook and sink in the first 3 minutes of the video rather than dropping the audience to technical jargon. Love you all the same, Shahriar 🙂
Chemist here, who's also into electronics. Raman spectroscopy is really a bit like magic. I'm from Calcutta, and have visited Raman's place of work. What he and his students achieved without the help of modern instruments is really amazing. I have worked with benchtop ramans, but a handheld version is super cool. Great video as always
If it is at all possible you should definitely do a video on your time at Bell Labs, I bet many people would love some insight into that mysterious organisation.
Very well made video, I watched it from beginning to end! When I was a student I did stimulated Raman scattering in D2O using picosecond laser pulses. You could actually get quite high intensity Raman lines, that could even be used to do time-resolved spectroscopy.
It all started with Raman and his prisms, now thankfully for Shahriar, Agilent, Dr. Stokes and Dr. Blanco we are most appreciative to see Raman's work so well integrated and fine tuned into a portable package that no doubt gives some the ability to quickly assess potentially dangerous situations. I find this to be one of the better adaptations of a sound theory.
Finally a type of instrument I have actually used before. If you ever somehow find your hands on a mass spectrometer (either quadrupole or orbitrap) or an NMR spectrometer, I think it would be really fun for you to do a video on them. RF circuits are at the heart of those instruments and I'd love to see what kind of insights you can give into their workings.
Same here, I worked for VG Scientific in the UK and was involved with Mass Spectroscopy, SIMS, Tof SIMS (Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy and the Time Of Flight stuff) back when this device really was SCFI !
LOL, to be honest I thought this was a spoof like the Turbo Encabulator for the first few seconds but quickly realized it was real. Amazing instrument and thanks for the fantastic review.
Excellent video, many thanks for bringing this technology to a wider audience, and of course thanks to the Agilent team for getting it into your hands. Having studied Raman spectroscopy at school many years ago for my Chemistry Degree and working with large benchtop instruments, its just amazing to see so much analytical power in such a small footprint device.
That was a delight! Great explanation, really well thought knowledge cadence! Thank you Shahriar. Hope you enjoy it, well deserved! Also extending to Dr. Stokes and Dr Blanco for making this happen.
That's AMAZING! A thing that I didn't even know existed does, which is remarkable and then the amazing feats of physics and signal processing... essentially all reduced to one EASY BUTTON. Wow. On a related topic, it would be really interesting to take one aspect of this and run with it.. please do a video on Raman amplifiers. Or as I was told, the reason why it's not always safe to look down the receive side of the fiber pair. All I knew before is that there's a high power laser pump source, some chunk of fiber that's apparently doped with magic and then more photons come out than you started with. I think I have hint now of what might be going on, thanks to this video.
Damet garm. Great job. I loved seeing the entire video and how it works, and when it doesn't work. Also thanks to, Dr Robert Stokes and Dr Anna Blanco for making this possible. The library of signatures available in there is fantastic.
Again, another great YT highlight! Thanks a lot for this really great episode. A very impressive instrument too. Thanks for the lot of work, you are doing and sharing the results with us.
Wonderful video, excellent. I also work with small spectrometers, and I know that raman is a huge challenge. I also used a effect which is called two photon absorptions you mentioned in the video, for example with lanthanoids, So a IR source point to the substance and you get back twice the frequency, which is used for forensic identification of objects (you add the substance for identification...) In this case its easy to filter out the laser, were as with Raman this is really a challenge.
Great video! This sent me down a rabbithole of trying to figure out how the Planck relation could be reconciled with the idea that zero-bandwidth electromagnetic waves are impossible. That led me to the time-energy uncertainty relation, which led me back to natural line width in spectroscopy. Always fun when that happens!
Wonderful episode! I was able to wrap my head around this technology and understand how it works (or at least at the fundamental level). It also demystifies the workings at custom/ border checkpoints. Next time I have to check my baggage, I'll have an idea as to how they check. Obviously there will additional instrumentation to augment devices like these. It's like a dog in a box, lol. 😀
That is super impressive and interesting. Thank you so much for making this and other videos - they are real educational eye openers. There are some extremely clever people in this world. I'm unfortunately not one of them!
That is a great video. A bit different to the normal stuff you cover, but very interesting indeed. Video drinking game - drink every time Shahriar mentions a Nobel price from his place of employment.
I remember working with helium cadmium lasers back at intek Corporation in 1978. A fascinating ultraviolet laser. We used the light sources for inspecting certain types of photographic film.
Very interesting. I'm guessing a thin aluminization layer like with typical moisture (or static shielding) packaging is enough to block detection? I'd be curious to try it on containers with different levels of metalization, like a partly transparent static shielding bag. Surely potato chips are out 😆
Really awesome presentation and really neat system. I worked with the Ahura Truscan systems holistically and is interesting having the software experience as well since that training and modeling really makes a significant difference and is amazing how magical like seems as well. Amazing the advances in the MEMS and other related systems advances. Neat how some have even DIY made RAMAN spectrometers.
Interesting, the cryocooling or cooling capabilities that somewhat seem like advances in vacuum tube tech sort of. HHHmmm, I've wondered about that graph noting the developments over time and what the future might look like? Not only in larger sizes, smaller sizes as well.
The Michelson Interferometer FTNIR I implemented at Perrigo was originally developed for primarily testing pseudoephedrine since was needing to be controlled as in the Methamphetamine Awareness Training we were told drums used to be stolen at timea and the lab even would throw out larger sample bags full of for each lot and batch prior to implementing more security controls. Guessing still gets stolen anyways. Crazy, is the psuedo is the wrong isomer to make the CNS stimulant. Great vasoconstrictor though and dangerous to be used for stimulation. Made me feel weird like my back tingly. Anyways, memory lane. Reminds me of investigational new drugs and approved along with days I wanted to scan mixtures and whatever unknowns that might be found on site. Though that was FTNIR mainly, though I'm sure to an extent if I had at my site the RAMAN systems implemented, I'd be that obsessive. The FT microscopy and hyperspectral imaging were my dream machine systems as well for investigations.
Wondering in regards to applications, the advances in medical diagnostics testing like for glucose monitoring, imaging and like at Tech I was inspired to work under the late Dr. Leifer using Mössbauer spectroscopy for diagnostics testing. At the time, as I still am thinking, the rotational and vibrational molecular energies had-have more my attention, since talk about controversial not well disclosed spectroscopic methods. The orgo lab had the microwave, albeit not the tuneable one I envisioned to use, so I was compelled to research with. 🙂
this looks a lot like the old Ahura First Defender. We used it 20 years ago for identifying unknown materials. Looks like Agilent has taking it to the next level
Absolutely Amazing! Thanks for the deep dive tutorial on this subject and experiments with the instrument. In addition to all the rare optical, laser, detector and assorted circuitry in this compact portable instrument, you forgot to mention that it is made of un-obtanium and the cost of un-affordium! Seriously though, ballpark prices, or price ranges, of the items you discuss would be very helpful. After all, we can all admire the engineering and design of Koenigsegg cars, but know that lusting after one without a million dollars handy is a fantasy. The Agilent Resolve Handheld Raman Analyzer featured here is unique in its compactness and ruggedness and may be very useful to many people in many industries, most viewers will not find out, especially since there is no pricing listed by Agilent, or anyone else. Best I can conclude is that 1/2 of the equipment behind you cost multiples of this device, making it in the $20 ~ $50 thousand dollar range. Perhaps someone from Agilent can research the process of selling, perhaps to the nano and pico particle levels, to discover that, whether it is this device or a potato, one of the key ingredients needed for a sales transaction is the price!
I’ve gotta say…I’m gonna need a tear down. Will Agilent send you anything to show off? So cool. Almost making me consider optoelectronics for my masters.
Well done, while technical your explanations are excellent keep up the good work, I had no idea before how it was possible to determine what was within a container. Magic demisstified successfully, now the device just needs to go on a diet to the make it the same size as a real triquarter.
Awesome video! Will be great if you can make some measurements of electronics related subtances, like semiconductor's composition (SiGE, GaAs, InP, etc...)
Small correction on that laser pointer crystal. It's way more than just a doubling crystal. It's usually a stack of a Nd:YAG crystal with a non-linear crystal that has the ends coated so one end reflects 800nm and 1064nm while the other end reflects 532nm and 1064nm. The ends of the crystal are also flat with the laser cavity stabilized by the pump laser heating the cavity and curving the ends of the crystal. A neat side effect of all this is that most green laser pointers are single-frequency single-mode lasers. If you can thermally stabilize it well enough, it'd make a great source for holography or conventional spectroscopy. (they'll happily excite individual absorption lines of Iodine vapor)
This is one of the most fascinating instruments that I've ever seen! I can imagine that if TSA (border agents) don't already have these, they sure will in the near future. I'm going to assume that it can also detect elicit drugs, so when people try to get into a country, they and what they carry with them could be scanned to see if they are bringing in some kind of drugs. I didn't know that Agilent was that far advanced. Impressive.
Awesome video! That product is basically a large chunk of 20th century physics condensed via 21st century technology into a massively useful device. Your thorough but brief description of the underlying physics was very understandable. Thank you!
These scanners would be great in searching for counterfeit, even just as a preliminary screen, since the materials signatures of legit devices would be different from those made elsewhere or altered, such as drugs, electrical components, textiles, etc.,
Excellent video! I was kind of wondering how you got such an expensive instrument! (none on ebay!) Does the instrument work on food, like an apple to detect insecticides, or on processed food to detect what chemicals are in it?
Very interesting video. It’s challenging for me to follow die to lack of scientific education but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Great to see the historic context at the beginning.
Were there any features or analytes that Agilent locked out or requested no comment? Maybe unanswerable question. I've worked on development of competitor's earlier generation instrument but it had other capabilities including gasses and radionuclide detection, and other features that at RFP review seemed technologically extremely challenging. Handheld devices like this for some years now also feature GPS, cameras, Irig, satellite link. As Shahriar alludes near end, these devices aren't usually available to civilians. Not because they include classified technologies but because they are developed under contract to government agency, in the US now its usually Homeland Defense. My project, they wrote the RFP, professional and clear specifications, funded the development, and it was our understanding it was in response to interdiction agencies technical, safety, and prosecution challenges.
A big reason I studied chemistry. Chemistry makes the world less scary, until one has to deal with dangerous substances an average person shouldn't have contact with.
Thank you, it qualifies as yet another technology I will be hoping a future West Papuan society free of foreign oppression & looting will be able to make good use of.
