Teaming with gamma rays
Xu's area of expertise is in gamma ray spectroscopy, which can determine the depth of radiation contamination. But to test for asbestos, he needed a second technology.
He collaborated with physics professor Xi-Cheng Zhang, who had worked for several years on developing a system that emitted and detected terahertz pulses. Terahertz wavelengths occupy that portion of the spectrum between 30 µm and the centimeter range.
The sensing system uses a fiber laser manufactured in Ann Arbor, Mich., by IMRA America Inc. that produces 17 mW at 1550 nm. The laser's femtosecond pulses pass through a series of nonlinear optics and are converted into terahertz waves. These "T-rays," as they are commonly called, pass into the sample through materials such as brick or concrete. The reflected terahertz beam reveals the spectral "fingerprint" of the sample under observation. From preliminary testing, Zhiping Jiang, an associate in Zhang's group, has discovered a way to identify types of asbestos by their absorption spectra.
The initial success has sparked interest from several companies in commercializing the technology, including Z Omega and Molecular OptoElectronics Corp. in Latham and Watervliet, N.Y., respectively. Besides evaluating the presence of asbestos, Zhang said there are potentially many uses for T-rays, from medical applications to locating plastic explosives.