Physics-Based Imaging Methods for Terahertz Nondestructive Evaluation Applications

Lying between the microwave and far infrared (IR) regions, the terahertz gap is a relatively unexplored frequency band in the electromagnetic spectrum that exhibits a unique combination of properties from its neighbors. Like in IR, many materials have characteristic absorption spectra in the terahertz (THz) band, facilitating the spectroscopic fingerprinting of compounds such as drugs and explosives. In addition, non-polar dielectric materials such as clothing, paper, and plastic are transparent to THz, just as they are to microwaves and millimeter waves. These factors, combined with sub-millimeter wavelengths and non-ionizing energy levels, makes sensing in the THz band uniquely suited for many NDE applications. In a typical nondestructive test, the objective is to detect a feature of interest within the object and provide an accurate estimate of some geometrical property of the feature. Notable examples include the thickness of a pharmaceutical tablet coating layer or the 3D location, size, and shape of a flaw or defect in an integrated circuit. While the material properties of the object under test are often tightly controlled and are generally known a priori, many objects of interest exhibit irregular surface topographies such as varying degrees of curvature over the extent of their surfaces. Common THz pulsed imaging (TPI) methods originally developed for objects with planar surfaces have been adapted for objects with curved surfaces through use of mechanical scanning procedures in which measurements are taken at normal incidence over the extent of the surface. While effective, these methods often require expensive robotic arm assemblies, the cost and complexity of which would likely be prohibitive should a large volume of tests be needed to be carried out on a production line. This work presents a robust and efficient physics-based image processing approach based on the mature field of parabolic equation methods, common to undersea acoustics, seismology, and other areas of science and engineering. The method allows the generation of accurate 3D THz tomographic images of objects with irregular, non-planar surfaces using a simple planar scan geometry, thereby facilitating the integration of 3D THz imaging into mainstream NDE use

Metamaterial Devices for the Terahertz Band

Terahertz (THz) and metamaterials are both hot topics in electromagnetics research. The THz band (0.1-10 THz) lies in the ‘gap’ between microwave and far infrared regions. Research is currently underway to characterize how these waves interact with matter, with potential applications including security screening, medical imaging, and non-destructive evaluation. Metamaterials are artificial materials containing sub-wavelength structures whose material properties, μ and ǫ can be ‘tuned’ to desired specifications, including simultaneously negative values, resulting in exotic properties such as a negative refractive index. Current metamaterials research includes the design of devices that operate at THz frequencies, filling a niche left wide open by the relative lack of naturally occurring materials with significant THz response. In this work, a background on both THz and metamaterials is given followed by a summary of a recently published paper in which metamaterial devices are used for switching and modulation of THz waves

Model-Based Material Parameter Estimation for Terahertz Reflection Spectroscopy

Many materials such as drugs and explosives have characteristic spectral signatures in the terahertz (THz) band. These unique signatures imply great promise for spectral detection and classification using THz radiation. While such spectral features are most easily observed in transmission, real-life imaging systems will need to identify materials of interest from reflection measurements, often in non-ideal geometries. One important, yet commonly overlooked source of signal corruption is the etalon effect - interference phenomena caused by multiple reflections from dielectric layers of packaging and clothing likely to be concealing materials of interest in real-life scenarios. This thesis focuses on the development and implementation of a model-based material parameter estimation technique, primarily for use in reflection spectroscopy, that takes the influence of the etalon effect into account. The technique is adapted from techniques developed for transmission spectroscopy of thin samples and is demonstrated using measured data taken at the Northwest Electromagnetic Research Laboratory (NEAR-Lab) at Portland State University. Further tests are conducted, demonstrating the technique\u27s robustness against measurement noise and common sources of error

Terahertz Material Detection From Diffuse Surface Scattering

The potential for terahertz (THz) spectroscopy to detect explosives and other materials of interest is complicated by rough surface scattering. Our previous work has demonstrated that by averaging over diffuse observation angles and surfaces, spectral features could be recovered from laboratory measurements and numerical computer simulations. In addition to averaging, a low-pass cepstrum filter was used to reduce noise due to the random rough surface. This paper expands on these concepts by using the cepstrum of both the random rough surface and the material properties of the target material to choose an optimal cutoff frequency for the filter. The utility of these techniques is evaluated using laboratory measurements and Monte Carlo simulations for many sets of random surface realizations. The Kirchhoff Approximation is used to quickly model diffuse scattering from dielectric materials with gradually undulating rough surfaces when the incident and diffuse scattering angles are near the surface normal. The ability to recover the spectral features of rough dielectric materials from diffuse THz scattering may prove useful for the design of future security screening systems

Performance Metrics for Depth-Based Signal Separation using Deep Vertical Line Arrays

A recent publication by McCargar and Zurk [(2013). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 133(4), EL320–EL325] introduced a modified Fourier transform-based method for passive source depth estimation using vertical line arrays deployed below the critical depth in the deep ocean. This method utilizes the depth-dependent modulation caused by the interference between the direct and surface-reflected acoustic arrivals, the observation of which is enhanced by propagation through the reliable acoustic path. However, neither the performance of this method nor its limits of applicability have yet been thoroughly investigated. This paper addresses both of these issues; the first by identifying and analyzing the factors that influence the resolution and ambiguity in the transform-based depth estimate; the second by introducing another, much simpler depth estimation method, which is used to determine the target trajectories required for observation of the interference pattern and the array requirements for accurate depth estimation