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Laser Feedback Interferometry as a Tool for Analysis of Granular Materials at Terahertz Frequencies: Towards Imaging and Identification of Plastic Explosives

We propose a self-consistent method for the analysis of granular materials at terahertz (THz) frequencies using a quantum cascade laser. The method is designed for signals acquired from a laser feedback interferometer, and applied to non-contact reflection-mode sensing. Our technique is demonstrated...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Han, She, Bertling, Karl, Dean, Paul, Keeley, James, Burnett, Andrew D., Lim, Yah Leng, Khanna, Suraj P., Valavanis, Alexander, Linfield, Edmund H., Davies, A. Giles, Indjin, Dragan, Taimre, Thomas, Rakić, Aleksandar D.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4813927/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27005629
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s16030352
Descripción
Sumario:We propose a self-consistent method for the analysis of granular materials at terahertz (THz) frequencies using a quantum cascade laser. The method is designed for signals acquired from a laser feedback interferometer, and applied to non-contact reflection-mode sensing. Our technique is demonstrated using three plastic explosives, achieving good agreement with reference measurements obtained by THz time-domain spectroscopy in transmission geometry. The technique described in this study is readily scalable: replacing a single laser with a small laser array, with individual lasers operating at different frequencies will enable unambiguous identification of select materials. This paves the way towards non-contact, reflection-mode analysis and identification of granular materials at THz frequencies using quantum cascade lasers.