IOP Publishing is pleased to announce the online publication of ?14N nuclear quadrupole resonance of p-nitrotoluene using a high-Tc rf SQUID? in the widely respected Superconductor Science and Technology. The paper describes how radio waves can be used to identify specific explosives, such as TNT. This new method could be used in the future at airports to screen luggage.
Conventional X-ray baggage scanners simply reveal images of luggage contents. This new technology, which works by detecting nitrogen atoms, can distinguish between different types of white powder, from flour and salt to drugs and explosives. It can also be used to detect landmines, an advance on the traditional method of using a metal detector which cannot distinguish between bits of metal in the ground and an actual mine.
The technique relies on nitrogen nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) which detects atoms of nitrogen (an element found in many explosives, including TNT) in different positions in a molecule. For example an atom of nitrogen attached to a carbon atom will have a different resonance than one attached to an oxygen atom. Because the molecular structure of each explosive is different, the resonant frequency will be different.
The article appears in the current online edition and is available at the following link: http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0953-2048/20/3/020. The article will also be featured in the March 2007 print version of Superconductor Science and Technology
?14N nuclear quadrupole resonance of p-nitrotoluene using a high-Tc rf SQUID? is authored by Professor Hideo Itozaki of Osaka University in Japan, along with contributing authors Dr. Dong Feng He and Professor Masashi Tachiki, both of the National Institute for Materials and Science in Japan.