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Scientistsat the Juelich Research Centre, Germany have developed a new technique to identify the liquids that could be used as explosives. The technique called ‘Hilbert spectroscopy’ will use a light-based approach to detect the explosiveness of the materials in a fraction of time.
According to the group, this technique can be used in solving the problem of carrying the liquids in airlines. So the luggage of the passengers can be screened quickly without any hassle.
Previously, a number of such techniques such as nuclear magnetic spectroscopy were used to obtain the information on the chemical properties of various samples. Nuclear magnetic spectroscopy helps in finding the magnetic properties of chemical nuclei of the samples.
All materials reflect light in a way that is particular to their identity. So relying on the measurement of the reflection or absorption of light, the materials can be identified.
This new technique uses a very wide spectrum of light to identify either liquids that could be mixed to form an explosive, or that are already mixed with other materials. So the problem of identification won’t be a problem during the screening of the multiple items packaged inside the baggage.
Researchers had used a ‘nano-electronic’ device which allows the frequencies of light reflected from a sample to be quickly added up. This in turn provides a chemical ‘fingerprint’ of the item being analysed.
Yuri Divin of the Research Centre Juelich said, “The principal advantage of using the Josephson junction is that it can span the low and high frequency ranges covered by other, significantly more expensive devices.”
“No one type of spectroscopy can operate from a few gigahertz to a few terahertz in the way Hilbert spectroscopy can,” he told.
“In applications where you need high-speed operation - such as security screening - it should happen fast and in a “broadband” way to make it reliable with a low number of false alarms. Hilbert spectroscopy does that,” he added.
