UoH researchers devise safer THz method to characterise sensitive explosives

Researchers at the University of Hyderabad developed a safer Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy method using composite pellets and Effective Medium Theory to extract intrinsic optical and dielectric properties of highly sensitive explosives, avoiding hazardous direct pellet preparation and yielding high-quality THz signatures. SEO keywords (comma-separated):

Hyderabad: The University of Hyderabad (UoH) researchers have developed a safer and highly effective method to characterize highly sensitive explosives in the terahertz spectral region using effective medium theory.

The Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy (THz-TDS) is a powerful spectroscopic technique used to study the optical and electronic properties of materials in the frequency range of 0.1–10 THz.

---

In spite of its advantages, the characterisation of sensitive high-energy materials, particularly primary explosives, remains a challenging task due to the hazards involved in handling such materials and the difficulty of preparing pure pellets.
According to Terahertz Research Group comprising researcher Dr. Koalla Rajesh and Prof. Anil Kumar Chaudhary of DIA-CoE, School of Physics, UoH, the THz-TDS of powdered samples is required in pellet form.

However, the direct pellet preparation of these sensitive explosives is a risky task because of their high sensitivity towards shock, grinding and compression.

“To overcome this limitation, we have mixed these sensitive explosives with a low-absorption binding matrix, which enabled safe pellet preparation. Furthermore, Effective Medium Theory (EMT) models were employed to extract the intrinsic optical and dielectric properties of the pure sensitive explosives from these composite pellets,” they said.

The results showed that EMT models can reliably reproduce the high-quality optical signatures of sensitive explosives, even when studied in a safer composite form in the THz domain. This work was published in the peer-reviewed journal Infrared Physics & Technology.