A team of researchers from Texas A&M University has taken a smartphone camera and a Raman spectrometer and combined them to create a device capable of identifying drugs, chemicals and biological molecules invisible to the unaided eye.

Source: Texas A&M University Engineering

According to its developers, the Raman spectrometer system features lenses, a diode laser and a diffraction grating combined with a smartphone camera for recording the Raman spectrum. The researchers added that peaks in the spectrum offer detailed data about the chemical composition and molecular structure of a substance — according to their concentrations and positions.

To operate the device, the smartphone is set up behind the transmission grating with the camera facing the grating so that it can record the Raman spectrum. Further, a laser beam is aimed into a sample of an unknown substance — for instance, bacterium on a slide. When coupled with the appropriate smartphone, application/database, the camera will record the spectrum and the device will be capable of rapidly identifying the unknown materials on site.

“It’s a small device that can tell you the composition of a particular system, material or sample,” the researchers concluded. “You can even have it in your pocket.”