Cobalt Wins Government Security Contract

Cobalt wins government contract to develop technology for screening of liquids at airports

Cobalt Light Systems Limited is pleased to announce that it has secured a significant contract to develop its proprietary technology, spatially offset Raman spectroscopy (SORS), for screening of liquids at airports. This project is funded under the Innovative Research Call in Explosives and Weapons Detection (2010) initiative, a cross-government programme sponsored by a number of government departments and agencies under the CONTEST strategy.

Spatially Offset Raman Technology (SORS) is a novel laser-based technique which enables characteristic Raman spectra to be rapidly recorded for materials in non-metallic containers. The measurement is like a fingerprint which can be compared to a library of threat materials and therefore used to flag if the material is dangerous. Crucially, the method is successful even when the container is made of opaque plastic or coloured glass, which can be difficult to deal with using other optical spectroscopic techniques due to scatter and/or fluorescence at the surface of the container. The technology was developed at the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Harwell, Oxfordshire, UK, and is under exclusive licence to Cobalt Light Systems.

Paul Loeffen, the CEO of Cobalt Light Systems, said “Winning this contract is a great help in developing our SORS technology for practical security applications. In addition to the welcome financial assistance, the contract enables Cobalt to exchange information and ideas with scientists and users in the UK government, to ensure that we are heading in the right direction”.