For anyone fed up with those necessary but nuisance-laden rules about not being allowed to take drinks onto aircraft, there may be light at the end of the tunnel.

An expanding Oxfordshire company is exploiting research carried out at the Science and Technology Facilities Council's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) at Harwell with a view to introducing an innovative instrument at airports, called the Insight 100, which is capable of determining the exact composition of liquids in a matter of seconds, even through plastic or glass bottles.

Paul Loeffen, 46, chief executive of Cobalt Light Systems, which moved into new 5000 sq ft offices in Milton Park at the end of 2012, said: “This has the potential to grow from zero to extremely large in as little as just one year.”

The Insight100 embodies one of several commercial uses for an exciting breakthrough in spectroscopic technology developed at RAL by Prof Pavel Matousek, who has worked at RAL for more than 20 years and is now Cobalt's chief scientific officer.

His breakthrough in the technology known as Spatially Offset Raman Spectroscopy meant that a system for identifying substances that had previously been limited to surfaces, could now be used through barriers, not just plastic or glass, but also almost anything else.

The possible uses of this development seem almost limitless, spelling a bright future for Cobalt.

Mr Loeffen said: “University College London is investigating the potential of using our so-called LiteThru Engine that can identify materials you cannot see, through barriers, to analyse bone through skin and detect osteoporosis in a non-invasive way.

“Working with University College London is a special research and development project for us, but pharmaceutical analysis along with aviation security are two important applications we are actively pursuing.”

Commercial possibilities In the field of pharmaceutical analysis seem as great as in airport security, if not so noticeable to the public at large.

Mr Loeffen explained: “Production of tablets means ensuring each one contains the correct concentration of drugs. This means constant testing, which is extremely time-consuming, destructive and expensive.

“It is expensive because huge volumes can be held up, so tying up capital — sometimes millions of dollars.

“Our device, TRS100, which stands for Transmission Raman System, can analyse tablets and verify concentrations of drugs in a fraction of a second. We have sold a number of systems to top pharma companies.”

Here again the system is also useful in the battle against producers of counterfeit drugs who are increasingly becoming a menace to the pharmaceutical industry worldwide.

And the verification process is equally useful in the warehouse where the raw ingredients of future tablets and medicines arrive.

Here, typically, so-called white powders arrive by the sack load and ingredients need to be identified quickly and accurately through such materials as brown paper, hessian, plastic or glass.

Mr Loeffen said: “Half way through last year we produced the RapID engine. It is a hand-held device attached to a box on wheels that can identify powders in seconds. No more inventories being tied up for days — and with regulators pushing for 100 per cent testing that has huge potential.”

Cobalt Light Systems came into being in 2006 when it took on its first employee, Darren Andrews, now its business development director.

He became a founding director of the company while working for the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), where he had the job of developing intellectual property.

Last year the firm outgrew its offices, which were across the road from the STFC. Now it has 19 employees and is looking for more, including a field-support engineer, a data scientist, and production assistants.

Mr Loeffen joined the company in September 2009. He has an MBA and a PhD in physics.

In 2001 he co-founded Oxford Diffraction, curiously enough also based at Milton Park, which developed into a major supplier of X-Ray instruments before being sold to a Californian enterprise in a deal worth more than £30m in 2008.

He declined to reveal the company's current turnover (except that it was now ‘seven figures’) but explained: “Funding for Cobalt Light Services now comes from five sources — trading, equity finance, bank debt, grants and government contracts.”

On a positive note for these difficult financial times, he added: “Funding for the right enterprise is out there. And Oxfordshire is one of the best places in Europe to be for people doing this sort of thing.”

As for those pesky people bent on confiscating your drink at airports, he explained that the relevant regulations had come into force in 2006 following a foiled terrorist plot, but added the European Commission is committed to phasing them out.

Perhaps with the widespread introduction of Cobalt's technology it will be able to do so sooner rather than later.