THz standoff detection and imaging of explosives and weapons

John F. Federici; Dale Gary; Robert Barat; David Zimdars

doi:10.1117/12.604695

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19 May 2005 THz standoff detection and imaging of explosives and weapons (Invited Paper)

John F. Federici, Dale Gary, Robert Barat, David Zimdars

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Proceedings Volume 5781, Optics and Photonics in Global Homeland Security; (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.604695
Event: Defense and Security, 2005, Orlando, Florida, United States

Abstract

Recently, there has been a significant interest in employing Terahertz (THz) technology, spectroscopy and imaging for standoff detection applications. There are three prime motivations for this interest: (a) THz radiation can detect concealed weapons since many non-metallic, non-polar materials are transparent to THz radiation, (b) target compounds such as explosives, and bio/chemical weapons have characteristic THz spectra that can be used to identify these compounds and (c) THz radiation poses no health risk for scanning of people. This paper will provide an overview of THz standoff detection of explosives and weapons including discussions of effective range, spatial resolution, and other limitations. The THz approach will be compared to alternative detection modalities such as x-ray and millimeter wave imaging.

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John F. Federici, Dale Gary, Robert Barat, and David Zimdars "THz standoff detection and imaging of explosives and weapons (Invited Paper)", Proc. SPIE 5781, Optics and Photonics in Global Homeland Security, (19 May 2005); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.604695

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