Advances in miniaturization and microfabrication have resulted in handheld and portable instruments that are increasingly rapid and reliable.

A forensics investigator dusts a crime scene for fingerprints. When she finds one, she reaches to her holster, pulls out a handheld device, and aims it at the fingerprint. The device captures the image and also the chemical composition. That chemical analysis reveals that the person who left the print had touched ephedrine—an illegal drug, which is a stimulant that goes by many street names, including meow. With this information, the investigators can use biometrics—the fingerprint— to identify the person and the chemical analysis to start piecing together the crime.

SPECTRO Analytical Instruments, a leading supplier of analytical instruments for optical emission and XRF spectrometry, has introduced the next-generation SPECTRO xSORT handheld energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) spectrometer.