Defense & Intelligence Policy, Business and Technology

After London, How Lasers Will Play a Role in Detecting Chemical Attacks Sooner

Government Executive: The recent assassination attempt against a former Russian double-agent spy just outside of London shows that chemical weapons aren’t just a concern in war zones. They’re invading streets in major cities. Just in time, a new laser technique can detect even trace amounts of chemical weapons in the air long before they show up in blood tests or on the evening news.

Konstantin Vodopyanov, a University of Florida researcher, and his colleagues, have developed a method for finding chemical molecules in extremely low doses, similar to the low doses of the nerve agent Novichok that attackers used against former Russian colonel and double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, as well as a British police officer responding to the Skripals’ state of emergency.

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