1 Department of Physics TERAHERTZ IMAGING and DETECTION OF SUICIDE BOMBERS* J. F. Federici, D. Gary, B. Schulkin, F. Huang, H. Altan Department of Physics R. Barat Department of Chemical Engineering K. Walsh Picatinny Arsenal *Funded by US Army and NSF

2 Department of Physics Outline THz Basics Basics of Interferometric Imaging — Spectral Information — Spatial information Simulated Images — cm resolution at 100m distances — Spectral Resolution of Explosives and Metals — Analysis of Images Current and Future Work

3 Department of Physics What is Terahertz (THz)? 1 THz frequency = 300  m wavelength or 33 cm -1 or 4.1 meV or T = 48 K Radio Microwave T-rays Infrared UV X-rays Frequency (Hz) Visible Also known as Far-Infrared or sub-millimeter

4 Department of Physics THz at NJIT Developed various THz sources, detectors, and imaging techniques  Two PhD students graduated, 9+ publications in THz technology Developed concept for Detection of explosives, chemical and biological weapons using new THz imaging methodology. Spring Proposal for cargo screening submitted to FAA Post 9/11 - National Science Foundation and US Army Funding  8 publications since 2002, 2 patents pending

5 Department of Physics Wide Area Surveillance NJIT Team is developing THz imaging techniques for Stand-Off Detection of concealed Explosives, Chemical/Biological Agents Development of Technique/ Hardware for Imaging Development of Image Analysis

6 Department of Physics Comparison with Other Techniques X-Ray, Neutron Scattering - Uses high energy radiation damages biological systems - eg. damages DNA/ tissues permissible exposure limited - more difficult for use on people. THz - low energy radiation - “non-ionizing” no damage to biological tissue differentiation of target compounds based on THz “color” Imaging and “color” information combination will reduce false alarm rate.

7 Department of Physics Disadvantages of THz for Scanning for Explosives / BioAgents Metals are opaque to THz –will reflect the THz THz strongly absorbed by water –will not detect explosives inside the body THz scanners will likely be used in conjunction with other detection techniques. Not a forensic technique - looking for 1cm 2 size blocks of material

8 Department of Physics Application of High-Resolution X-Ray Raman Scattering to Homeland Security T. A. Tyson, Q. Qian (NJIT), Z. Zhong, C.-C. Kao and W. Caliebe (NSLS) X-ray absorption spectroscopy of is one method that can be used to identify chemical systems by threshold spectra. The resonance features in x-ray absorption spectra are uniquely related with the molecular structure enabling rapid chemical identification. Utilizing 100 KeV x-rays with high penetration power and a transmission x-ray analyzer system based on a working design (left), we will develop a system for detecting explosives and chemical weapons by fingerprinting their spectra. The upper and lower left panels show the full spectrometer and blow up of the analyzer array, respectively. Each of the nine x-ray focusing mirrors can be independently aligned with micro radian precision in the horizontal and vertical planes. The lower left panel show the carbon K-edge spectrum of graphite measured in energy loss mode (x-ray Raman spectrum) with a resolution of ~ 0.5 eV.

9 Department of Physics Advantages of THz for Scanning for Explosives / Bio and Chemical Agents THz transmits through most non-metallic materials: plastic, paper, clothing THz yields transmission / reflection spectra of targets* Explosives Kemp (2003) Transmissive Bas.Sub. Spectra Woolard et al (2003) * See papers from Proc. SPIE 5070, (2003)

10 Department of Physics Interferometric Imaging - Motivation Therefore To image in the THz, one must generate images using only a few to a few hundred detector elements. Possible Solution: Interferometric imaging A THz digital camera would be ideal for THz imaging: However consumer digital cameras  imaging arrays of 1024 by 768 pixels or 780,000 individual detector elements in the array. That high density of detectors in THz range not technologically possible.

11 Department of Physics Sample Array Geometry Detector Distance to Origin: Exponential Distances Ensure Non- redundant Spacing of Detector Pairs 66 detector pair combinations Rotation of 90 o with data acquired every 1 o : 66*90 = 5940 points in u-v plane

12 Department of Physics Estimated Angular Resolution Field-of-View determined by either Field-of-View of individual Detectors or Bandwidth of Detectors. Angular (Spatial) Resolution determined by spacing between Detector Pairs. A 1m baseline array has a spatial resolution of 3cm at 100m! Scaling down to cargo unit or hand-held  size of smoke detector!

13 Department of Physics Simulation of THz Imaging Array Detection of RDX and Metal at a distance of 30m Objects 1.5cm in size Composite Image combination of THz images taken at 5 different frequencies  Spectral and Spatial Images Objects with spectral content of RDX colored Red Objects reflecting all THz radiation colored white RDX Metal Sidelobes

14 Department of Physics Focusing of Image Imaging Array Object Focal Length Single frequency, uncleaned image

15 Department of Physics Image Analysis - Neural Networks BLUE = metal coin PINK = bioagent GREEN = flour ORANGE = starch THz Image at 1 frequency Neural Network Analysis

16 Department of Physics Present and Future Work Development of Benchtop model underway to demonstrate key technological components Detect C4 versus peanut butter hidden in clothing. Scale up to imaging system for suicide bombers (system size about 1m) Scale to hand-held/ cargo container unit (10cm size, battery operated unit)