Inverse Analysis of Diffuse Reflectance Spectra for Explosives Monitoring

This study describes a parametric model for inverse analysis of diffuse IR reflectance from explosive materials that are sparsely distributed upon a surface. This model, which adopts the the Kubelka-Munk theory of diffuse reflectance as ansatz, permits extraction of scattering coefficients correlated with the level of surface coverage by an explosive. In general, this model establishes ground-work for development of a prediction tool that will enable rapid and quantitative band contrast matching of spectral features for detection of trace levels of explosive material on surfaces. This study considers a prototype system comprising a sparse distribution of RDX particles on a soda-lime glass surface. The results of this study provide validation of the parametric model within reasonable error, for practical applications including simulating IR spectral responses corresponding to sparse surface distributions of explosives or other particular matter.