Determination principal component content of seed oils by THz-TDS

Feasibility of using terahertz spectroscopy to detect seven different pesticides in wheat flour

This study investigated the feasibility of detecting pesticides using terahertz (THz) spectroscopy in high-density polyethylene and/or wheat flour mixtures. The absorption spectra of seven pesticides (dicofol, chlorpyrifos, chlorpyrifos-methyl, daminozide, imidacloprid, diethyldithiocarbamate, and dimethyldithiocarbamate) were measured in the frequency range 0.1 to 3 THz at room temperature. Five of the seven pesticides exhibited specific absorption peaks in the low-energy THz range. The two remaining pesticides had no specific absorption peaks in this frequency range, but they exhibited different frequency-dependent refractive indices. The absorption coefficients of imidacloprid increased with its increasing weight ratio in high-density polyethylene, and the fitted power absorptions and refractive indices using a Maxwell-Garnett effective medium model were comparable to the measured data. Imidacloprid was also identified from its characteristic absorption peaks in wheat flour mixtures, and a linear relationship between the absorption coefficient and the weight ratio was observed. Our results show the potential of detection of selected pesticides in foods, such as wheat flour, using THz spectroscopy.

Compact terahertz wave polarizing beam splitter

We designed a compact terahertz (THz) wave polarizing beam splitter based on a periodic bilayer structure, which operates over a wide THz wavelength range. Within a short length (about 1 mm), this polarizing beam splitter separates THz wave TE- and TM-polarized modes into orthogonal output waveguides. Results of simulations with the finite-element method show that 99.99% of the TE-polarized THz wave is deflected by the periodic bilayer structure (with 39.9 dB extinction ratio), whereas 99.58% of the TM-polarized THz wave propagates through the structure (with a 23.7 dB extinction ratio). Tolerance analysis reveals a large tolerance to fabrication errors.