You should know about ChromaID – maybe because you’re an investor, maybe because you’re a quality control analyst, and certainly if you’re a sci-fi fan, because this technology is really cool.

ChromaID is the creation of Visualant, Inc., and it has just secured the company another $5 million joint development agreement to bring the tech to market.

Spectral vision

In a nutshell, everything in the world has a unique light signature created by molecular polarization. A ChromaID handheld device, containing both emitters and detectors, uses LEDs or lasers to shoot white light at or through an object, gas or liquid. Detectors capture the light signature, called the spectral pattern, and from a database of all known spectral patterns, the item can be identified. If you really want to read the nitty gritty, Visualant has written up the entire story of the development process. It’s fascinating stuff.

The applications

The process sounds pretty simple, so what makes it so cool? What you can do with it! According to Visualant, ChromaID-equipped devices can be used to authenticate documents like passports and transcripts. The next time the TSA agent scans your ID card, just lean in, nod knowingly and say “ChromaID right?”

 Law enforcement could use it to safely and quickly discern drugs from baby powder, and airlines could check fuel for contaminants. Vineyards could even use it to check the sugar content in their grapes. In one development test, Visualant used the tech to determine the brands of 10 Vodka samples and the contents of four vials of powder in just seconds.

Not just for party tricks

Visualant was recently awarded a fifth patent on ChromaID covering medical diagnostics. While it’s easy to imagine the usefulness of the technology in something like identifying an unknown medication, imagine being able to non-invasively evaluate a mass.

Tom Furness, lead scientist on ChromaID, told Optics.org, “One of my own particular interests now is using this technology in medical diagnosis; using it to look transcutaneously through the skin and extract information about glucose, cholesterol, free radicals in the blood, and so on." They’re entering the technology into the $10 million XPRIZE Tricorder competition in which companies collaborate to bring the infamous Star Trek medical scanner to life.

It’s an interesting time to keep an eye on Visusalant and ChromaID. We may just yet live to see a real life tricorder diagnosing our flu! Dr. McCoy would be so proud.