Using terahertz imaging to seek quirks in corks at NJIT

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As the holidays approach and you're buying wine, ever wonder what's really in a cork? Ask NJIT's John Federici, who has a new use for Terahertz imaging: searching for divots and cracks in wine corks to insure quality.

Using Federici's laboratory, which is devoted to sub-millimeter or Terahertz waves, the project, in collaboration with Amorim & Irmãos S.A. Portugal, the world's largest natural cork producer, and sponsored by QREN, a Portuguese national program for development and innovation, is focused on detecting defects such as cracks and voids in the cork.

THz-imaging is fast proving itself easier and better to use in non-destructive evaluation of objects because it can easily penetrate through most non-metallic materials and it can achieve better resolution than millimeter wave imaging.

"Terahertz imaging is an up-and-coming technology for quality control inspection of materials and components," Federici said. "THz imaging of corks can be simply viewed as analogous to imaging cavities in a tooth. In the case of cork, variations in the structure of the cork – a cavity – lead to contrast in the THz image."

For example, rather than classifying corks based on how they look on the outside, THz imaging will enable classification of corks based on their internal structure. Another advantage is that Terahertz imaging is safer to use on people and products.

The research interests of Federici, a distinguished professor of physics at NJIT, span Terahertz or sub-millimeter wave imaging, spectroscopy, and sub-millimeter wireless communication to ink-jet printed sensors and devices.

Federici has been the lead writer on upwards of 70 publications in scholarly journals and holds 7 patents. His most recent patents emphasize Terahertz synthetic aperture imaging. Federici and his research team have received a U.S. Patent for a Terahertz imaging system and method. Since 1995, Terahertz imaging has grown in importance as new and sophisticated devices and equipment have empowered scientists to understand its potential.

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NJIT, New Jersey's science and technology university, enrolls more than 8,900 students pursuing bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in 120 programs. The university consists of six colleges: Newark College of Engineering, College of Architecture and Design, College of Science and Liberal Arts, School of Management, College of Computing Sciences and Albert Dorman Honors College. U.S. News & World Report's 2009 Annual Guide to America's Best Colleges ranked NJIT in the top tier of national research universities. NJIT is internationally recognized for being at the edge in knowledge in architecture, applied mathematics, wireless communications and networking, solar physics, advanced engineered particulate materials, nanotechnology, neural engineering and e-learning. Many courses and certificate programs, as well as graduate degrees, are available online through the Office of Continuing Professional Education.

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POSTSCRIPT- Abe on the IV board has reminded me, of the longstanding connection between NJIT and API, as reflected in this news release from 2005.

Advanced Photonix, Inc.(R) Receives Orders for Terahertz Systems from Major Development Labs

CAMARILLO, Calif., Nov 15, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Advanced Photonix, Inc.(R) (AMEX: API) ("API") announced today that Picometrix LLC ("Picometrix"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of API, has received orders for its T-Ray(TM) 2000 terahertz (THz) system from four major defense and leading university application development labs around the world. The New Jersey Institute of Technology ("NJIT"), the University of Adelaide, a major U.S. defense contractor, and a major foreign national lab have each placed orders for the T-Ray(TM) 2000 terahertz systems, with the combined orders totaling slightly over $1,000,000 to be fulfilled over the next two quarters. The T-Ray(TM) 2000 is capable of both THz spectroscopy and imaging and is used for application development. It was introduced in 2001 as the world's first commercially available THz instrument. Picometrix also offers the QA1000 THz system for on-line process control applications.
NJIT is a major public university with a worldwide reputation in THz development applications, headed by Dr. John Federici. Picometrix has had an on-going technical partnership with the Physics Department at NJIT for the development of THz applications for defense and homeland security markets.
The University of Adelaide located in Adelaide, Australia is a leader in many research and development fields. The THz Group at the University has received a major grant to develop Australia's first THz user facility, and Picometrix is proud to be a strategic supplier of the equipment enabling them to conduct THz development for a variety of applications.
The foreign national lab focuses on applied R&D, ranging from equipment for medical and pharmaceutical diagnostics to non-destructive testing for detecting contraband and security-threats.
Richard (Rick) Kurtz, Chairman of the Board and CEO, said, "These orders build on our existing relationships with various application development laboratories around the world in investigating the possible applications of THz technology. By creating and leveraging these relationships we will help drive the transition of THz application development from the research lab using the T-Ray(TM) 2000 to on-line process control solutions using our QA1000 THz system."
The information contained herein includes forward looking statements that are based on assumptions that management believes to be reasonable but are subject to inherent uncertainties and risks including, but not limited to, unforeseen technological obstacles which may prevent or slow the development and/or manufacture of new products; potential problems with the integration of the acquired company and its technology and possible inability to achieve expected synergies; obstacles to successfully combining product offerings and lack of customer acceptance of such offerings; limited (or slower than anticipated) customer acceptance of new products which have been and are being developed by the Company; and a decline in the general demand for optoelectronic products.
Advanced Photonix, Inc.(R) (AMEX: API) is a leading supplier of opto-electronic solutions and THz instrumentation to a global OEM customer base. Products include the patented high-speed optical receivers in APD and PIN configurations and silicon Large Area Avalanche Photodiode (LAAPD), PIN photodiode and FILTRODE(R) detectors. Picometrix is a world-leading supplier of high-speed optical receivers and THz equipment for the scientific, industrial, medical, military, and homeland security markets. More information on Advanced Photonix can be found at http://www.advancedphotonix.com.
SOURCE: Advanced Photonix, Inc.

Advanced Photonix, Inc.
Richard Kurtz, 805/987-0146
 or
Cameron Associates
Richard Moyer, 212/554-5466

NJIT Physicist Sees Terahertz Imaging As Ultimate Defense Against Terrorism

John Federici, a physics professor at NJIT, sees the use of terahertz rays as a critical technology in the defense against suicide bombers and other terrorist activities. Federici and his research team recently described experimental results from a digital video camera invented in their laboratory that uses a terahertz imaging system. One day such a device could be used to scan airport passengers quickly and efficiently. “Video-Rate terahertz Interferometric and Synthetic Aperture Imaging” appeared in Applied Optics (July, 2009).

The article examined experimental results from a video-rate device. The device uses terahertz (THz) rays that emit a continuous narrow bandwidth radiation of 0.1 (THz). The instrument creates a two-dimensional image of a point in an object. The image is reconstructed at a rate of 16 milliseconds per frame with a four-element detector array. The number of detectors, the configuration of the detection array and how well the baselines are calibrated affects the image resolution and quality.

“Scientists favor terahertz radiation because it can transmit through most non-metallic and non-polar mediums,” said Federici. “When a terahertz system is used correctly, people can see through concealing barriers such as packaging, corrugated cardboard, walls, clothing, shoes, book bags, pill coatings, etc. in order to probe for concealed or falsified materials.”

Once the rays penetrate those materials, they can also characterize what might be hidden – be they explosives, chemical agents or more – based on a spectral fingerprint the rays will sense which can identify the material. terahertz radiation also poses minimal or no health risk to either the person being scanned or the THz system operator.

At this time, instruments using terahertz imaging are widely used in laboratories and have shown some limited use in commercial applications. However, a THz imaging system for security screening of people has not yet reached the market. Researchers say that such a system is at least five years away. The NJIT device, however, has great promise. According to Federici, THz imaging systems have an inherent advantage over millimeter wave imaging systems due to the intrinsically improved spatial resolution that one can achieve with the shorter wavelength THz systems (typically 300 micrometer wavelength) compared to longer wavelength millimeter wave systems. However, video-rate THz imaging systems are not as well advanced as their millimeter wave counterparts.

One technical limitation in developing video-rate THz imaging is the cost of THz hardware components including detectors. Consequently, THz imaging systems create images using a very small number of detectors in contrast to the million or more detectors that are used in digital cameras. According to Federici, one can use advanced imaging techniques, such as synthetic aperture imaging methods, to compensate for the relatively few number of THz detectors in an imaging system.

“The idea has been to apply different methods of imaging with radio waves, where many of the ideas for synthetic aperture imaging originated, to terahertz rays,” said Federici. His research team has focused in particular on applications of synthetic aperture imaging to the terahertz range. “The advantage of this particular method is the ability to generate terahertz images with a large number of pixels using a limited number of terahertz detectors. This imaging method should also be capable of video-rate imaging, thereby enabling the real-time monitoring of people hiding concealed explosives or other dangers.” A typical imaging system would be analogous to a still or video camera designed for this purpose.

In 2005, Federici and his research team received a U.S. patent for a terahertz imaging system and method that enables video-rate THz imaging with a limited number of detectors. Since 1995, terahertz imaging has grown in importance as new and sophisticated devices and equipment have empowered scientists to understand its potential. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Army Research Office, Department of Defense, and the National Science Foundation support Federici’s work.

While researchers have focused on the potential applications of terahertz rays for directly detecting and imaging concealed weapons and explosives, they say another application is the remote detection of chemical and biological agents in the atmosphere.

Source:
New Jersey Institute of Technology
and MedicalNewsToday.