Keep Your Pants (And Your Shoes) On—T-Rays May Simplify Airport Screening

A group of Rice electrical engineers led by Daniel Mittleman, associate professor in electrical and computer engineering, was fiddling around in the lab one day when they made an interesting discovery.

Well, maybe it wasn’t quite that simple. The researchers were experimenting with a new form of microscopy based on terahertz waves, also known as T-waves or T-rays, which are the least explored region of the electromagnetic spectrum, lying between microwaves and infrared light. What they found is that T-rays can be carried by a simple metal wire and directed at a specific target. The T-rays then penetrate the target and bounce back from objects hidden beneath the surface. The reflected waves can be captured and analyzed, giving information about the target and objects hidden within or behind the target—in some cases, revealing not only the object’s shape but its chemical composition.

The resulting device, a terahertz endoscope, may significantly extend the reach of electromagnetic rays in penetrating plastic, vinyl, paper, dry timber, and glass, and because T-ray imaging is not biologically hazardous like X-rays, it has a myriad of applications, including cancer screening, industrial quality control, and security systems that can screen for weapons or contraband.

The results of the research were published in an article in the November issue of Nature.