TECEX 2007

For the first time, physicists from SSLS and policemen from Forensic Management Branch, Criminal Investigation Department, worked together on a project funded by the Enterprise Challenge Program (Prime Minister’s Office). International terrorism being one of the most serious security threats societies face today, the importance of fast and accurate investigation techniques for evaluating vital clues left behind by the terrorists’ bomb blasts is high and became the main aim of this project that was managed by dr A. Banas. Our results prove that synchrotron-radiation-based Fourier Transform InfraRed spectroscopy (FTIR) can be used to identify and discriminate post-blast residues of explosives from their characteristic fingerprint spectra. Moreover, the universality, high sensitivity, speed, and repeatability make this method an outstanding tool for the examination of remains after an explosion in order to serve forensic purposes.