Simulation of terahertz pulse propagation in biological systems

E. Pickwell, G.E. Cole, A.J. Fitzgerald, Vincent Wallace, M. Pepper

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    202 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Studies in terahertz (THz) imaging have revealed a significant difference between skin cancer (basal cell carcinoma) and healthy tissue. Since water has strong absorptions at THz frequencies and tumor affects the water content of tissue, a likely contrast mechanism is variation in water content. Modeling the propagation of a THz pulse through water is the first step toward understanding the origin of contrast in terahertz pulsed images of skin cancer. In this letter, we develop a finite-difference-time-domain simulation to model the propagation of a THz pulse and incorporate double Debye theory to model the behavior of water subject to THz radiation. Furthermore, we apply this model to skin. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)2190-2192
    JournalApplied Physics Letters
    Volume84
    Issue number12
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2004

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