PryJector: a device for in situ visualization of chemical and physical property distributions on surfaces using...

Traditional forensic methods that highlight the spatial distribution of properties such as blood and fingerprints have two main disadvantages: they often apply chemicals that may influence further analyses, and they cannot easily be modified to search for new compounds/properties. A new instrument (called PryJector) avoids these problems by dynamically projecting back onto the surface under study spatially distributed information of compounds/properties (chemical images) obtained from multivariate analysis of hyperspectral images. Selectivity to target compounds/properties is ensured by multivariate modeling which makes the instrument much more flexible compared to traditional methods. The functionality of the PryJector is demonstrated in an application related to the detection of counterfeit pharmaceuticals where compounds otherwise indistinguishable to the human eye are made clearly visible by projection of false-colored chemical images. The PryJector is shown to be a noninvasive and very flexible instrument for highlighting spatial distributions of various compounds/properties.