| abstract |
A portable product authentication device and method for analyzing key ingredients and the relative amounts of key ingredients in products which in turn enables authentication and monitoring products for authenticity, fraud and quality control is disclosed. Particular light-emissive compounds can be used to identify and quantitate the relative levels of key ingredients in the products. The invention includes a probe assembly for providing a source of light to irradiate a sample product, an optical detector to detect emitted light from the irradiated product and a controller to determine the authenticity or quality of the sample product by comparing the emitted light to a standard. A small sample of the product to be authenticated is tested on site (e.g., at the point of manufacture or at the point of distribution) thereby giving immediate feedback as to its authenticity or quality. The sample, together with the light-emissive compound may be placed on a chip. The chip, together with the small amount of sample is placed in the probe assembly. |