Instant imaging device gives GPs safe new window into the body

Connected.Telegraph.co.uk ^ | 06/10/2002 | Robert Matthews

[mjp]

A camera that can see through clothes, skin and even walls without X-rays has been developed in what is being called one of the first great technological breakthroughs of the 21st century.

Click to enlarge The "terahertz" camera, still in prototype form, is under rapid development by scientists in Oxfordshire. It is likely to have many applications, ranging from medical scanning to identifying concealed weapons on airline passengers.

Unlike X-rays, it does not expose patients to potentially harmful radiation. Instead, it detects a form of ultra-high-frequency, or terahertz, energy waves naturally emitted by all objects.

Nor does it require people to walk through a special scanner: anything that comes within range of the terahertz camera is exposed to its penetrating gaze.

Dr Chris Mann, one of the project leaders at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory near Didcot, said: "These [terahertz] waves are just below infrared energy and are given off by virtually everything around us. They are also able to pass through windows, paper, clothing and, in certain instances, walls."

While the existence of terahertz waves has long been recognised, the technology needed to capture them by camera has so far been prohibitively expensive and complex.

Earlier this year, however, the European Space Agency decided to try to build the world's first terahertz camera to allow satellites to monitor the Earth through thick cloud.

The £400,000 project, codenamed StarTiger, has brought together leading scientists from across the continent. The team succeeded in building a prototype in less than three months. Dr Peter de Maagt, of the space agency, said: "We wanted to show what could be achieved in such short timescales, and we have done it."

They managed to crack the key problem of capturing the terahertz waves emitted by objects. Using micro-machining techniques, they created a set of tiny "wave guides", the thickness of a human hair, which act like the lens of a conventional camera. The energy of the incoming waves is then turned into signals to produce the final image.

The first historic image taken by the device revealed the outline of a hand, clearly visible despite being hidden under a thick book.

Dr Mann said the success was greeted by a huge shout by the team. "We were ecstatic," he said. "We'd put together the basic components and the image of the hand appeared. It's a whole new era in imaging."

The team is now working on bringing image quality to commercial standards. Dr Mann said: "If it were mass-produced, there is no reason why it could not be available for a cost similar to that of a digital camera."

The prospect of low-cost and completely safe medical imaging could provide the opportunity for every GP's surgery to have such a device. Professor Laurie Hall, an authority on medical imaging at Cambridge University, said: "It's a completely new window into the human body."

Terahertz imaging, he said, opened the way to rapid and safe screening for signs of disease or tissue damage. "It could be very useful with suspected joint damage, which often isn't detected until it is too late for effective drug treatment. It's the lack of invasiveness that makes it so exciting. It's got great potential."

Another application is likely to be in airport security. Unlike X-ray machines, there is no need for passengers to pass through a scanner: the camera can simply be pointed at passengers to show hidden items.

Dr Mann admitted that the ability of the camera to see body shape beneath clothing could prove controversial. The Telegraph recently reported on the outrage of passengers scanned by an X-ray system with similar abilities at an airport in the United States.

The makers of that machine insisted that the videotapes of passengers were continually erased. Even so, civil-liberties groups have called for it to be abandoned.

The demand for security is likely to override such qualms, however. Government transport officials are already considering terahertz technology for the surveillance of passengers. A spokesman said: "We are keeping an eye on progress with this technology."

Other potential applications range from checking mail for bombs or anthrax to the surveillance of criminals through walls.

Dr Mann said: "As long as the wall is made of dry material, terahertz waves can pass through. Only metal and materials with a high water content block them."

[patriciaruth]

Dr. McCoy strikes again.

[Djarum]

"...the surveillance of criminals citizens through walls."

[RLK]

Try ultrasound. I spent part of an afternoon watching my heart beat on TV. I could also see microstructure in my carotid arteries.

[MedicalMess]

"If it were mass-produced, there is no reason why it could not be available for a cost similar to that of a digital camera."

We might as well get comfortable with eachother because we're all going to be seeing one another naked.

The Supreme Courts ruling that police could not use any surveillance technology that was not used by the average citizen is about to become worthless.

[MedicalMess]

Only metal and materials with a high water content block them."

Date 2010 Headlines:

Mass Purchases of Aluminum Siding Replace Former Market Leader Vinyl in Residential Homes.

[Swordmaker]

Dr Chris Mann, one of the project leaders at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory near Didcot, said: "These [terahertz] waves are just below infrared energy and are given off by virtually everything around us. They are also able to pass through windows, paper, clothing and, in certain instances, walls."

Something doesn't jibe here... the graphic and chart shows the "terahertz" waves as being in GAMMA RAY range, which is FAR ABOVE "Infrared" which is below visible light.

Either the chart is wrong or the scientist is misquoted or someone is scamming someone.

[Looking for Diogenes]

Only metal and materials with a high water content block them.

I predict mylar-coated underwear.

[evolved_rage]

Maybe we could put them in shoe stores, like the old x-rays back in the 40s.

[Free the USA]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[bvw]

Thermal-like. Between microwave and infrared. Not up in Gamma, for G-d's sake ... we'd be very "eneregetic" if we were to be throwing off gamma rays!

[bvw]

FTW, Measurement Units Prefixes by Powers of Ten

kilo- k or K 10 ** 3
mega- M 10 ** 6
giga- G 10 ** 9
tera- T 10 ** 12
peta- P 10 ** 15

AM radio is in the 500-2,000 kilohertz range.
FM radio is in the 100 megahertz range.
Police radar is in the 10-30 giga-hertz range.
Infrared and visble light are in the peta-hertz range.

However in that (infrared, visible) range and above everyone talks of wavelengths, rather than frequencies.

This "TeraHertz" radiation is like infrared thermal imaging except the sensors in that particular frequency range had not been readily available until recently.

[Swordmaker]

Thermal-like. Between microwave and infrared. Not up in Gamma, for G-d's sake ... we'd be very "eneregetic" if we were to be throwing off gamma rays!

Exactly... Bad journalism... or bad graphics.

[Swordmaker]

BV, I know all this... I was pointing out the idiocy of the graphic they were using: the arrow they have is pointing to the GAMMA RAY area... not to the area below infrared. Had they not posted this, I would not have had a problem with their announcement.