Detection of Ammonium Nitrate or Trinitrotoluene (TNT) by exciting the sample with microwaves in the band of 75 - 110 GHz and by detecting emissions from the sample in the bands of 50-75 GHz and/or 500-750 GHz

摘要

To detect for example Ammonium Nitrate and TNT an electromagnetic radiation source (108a) transmits at 95 GHz to a sample. A first zero bias detector diode (116a) measures in the range of 50 - 75 GHz a response signal (132) that exhibits a peak, if Ammonium Nitrate is present in the sample. A second zero bias detector diode (116b) measures in the range of 500 - 750 GHz a response signal (132) that exhibits a peak, if TNT is present in the sample. Samples lacking said explosive materials do not exhibit any peaks in the response signals. In one embodiment, the stimulation source is a GaN-based multi-element array.