Frequency Agile Sensor for Trace Explosives Detection

ABSTRACT: In collaboration with Sandia National Laboratory, Physical Sciences Inc (PSI) proposes to design, develop, and demonstrate a Frequency Agile Terahertz Sensor (FATS) for trace explosives residue detection. The critical frequency agile terahertz (THz) detector is based on an electronically tunable plasmonic grating-gate technology developed by our collaborators at Sandia. The Phase I effort met milestones for detector sensitivity improvements, as well atmospheric radiative transport modeling that demonstrated the feasibility of the approach and defined specific performance requirements for the detector. The Phase II effort will further advance the detector sensitivity, increase operating temperature, fabricate and validate a prototype stand-off sensor, and gather statistical performance data for detection probability and false alarms in realistic deployment scenarios. BENEFIT: The end result of Phase II of this program will be a prototype sensor for trace explosives residue detection. In addition to the national security benefit of an improved response to the on-going terrorist threat of improvised explosives, this project will also advance the state of the art of an innovative detector technology. Because of its frequency agility, small size, and compatibility with standard semiconductor processing, this novel detector has the potential to combine spectroscopic capability with focal plane imaging in the far-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum.