Abstract
Coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS) has been investigated as a detection method for the identification of dipicolinic acid (DPA), a marker molecule for bacterial spores of anthrax. The laser dye molecule DCM was used as a surrogate molecule for DPA. In preliminary experiments, a molecular sensitivity was achieved in DCM that is projected to be sufficient to detect the DPA in bacterial spore clumps as small as 5.5 μm in diameter, small enough to be of interest in practical detection scenarios.