Conference 8900: Millimetre Wave and Terahertz Sensors and Technology VI Tuesday - Wednesday 24–25 September 2013 Part of Proceedings of SPIE Vol. 8900 Millimetre Wave and Terahertz Sensors and Technology VI

Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy for distinguishing different kinds of gunpowder

Tomas Gavenda, Tomas Bata Univ. Zlin (Czech Republic);
Vojtech Kresalek, Tomas Bata Univ. of Zlin (Czech Republic)

Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy is one of the new and most useful applications of terahertz radiation in security industry. The need for new and reliable methods of distinguishing dangerous material such as drugs, explosives or toxics from common material is leading to development of terahertz security systems. This study is focused on distinguishing different kinds of gunpowder as possible explosive material.

Three samples of gunpowder were measured during preliminary measurement. The first sample was common shotgun gunpowder, the second was gunpowder commercially known as MDN-9 and the third was gunpowder commercially known as S35-01. Terahertz time domain spectroscopy setup was used to measure absorbance spectra of each sample in the range from 0.5 THz to 2 THz (using device TPS Spectra 3000 by TeraView Ltd.). The vacuum was used to purge the measurement chamber from water vapors. The preliminary results are shown in Figure 1.

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