Method and apparatus for sensing the presence of explosives, contraband and other molecules using nuclear quadrupole resonance
First Claim
1. A method for performing a nuclear quadrupole resonance measurement on a material, comprising the steps of:
- placing a target material between spaced apart elements of a transmission line terminated with a load equal to the impedance of the transmission line wherein the transmission line is balanced and effectively has a Q of zero;
driving the transmission line through a directional coupler with a transmitted signal having a frequency equal to that of a spectral lines of the target material; and
,detecting a stimulated emission caused by nuclear quadrupole resonance of the target material from a received signal at an output of the directional coupler wherein the received signal is isolated from the transmitted signal, so that interference between the transmitted signal to the transmission line and the received signal from the transmission line is minimized.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Stimulated emissions due to nuclear quadropole resonance are detected utilizing a terminated balanced transmission line and a directional coupler for the detection of explosives, contraband, narcotics and the like that exist between the transmission lines, with either a stepped frequency generator utilized to scan between 100 KHz and 10 MHz, or wherein parallel fixed frequency sources are coupled to the transmission line, thereby to permit correlation with expected lines, with the frequency sources being low power so as to not create a safety hazard and so as not to interfere with radiation sensitive devices such as film or electronic circuits that are in the vicinity of the balanced transmission line.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method for performing a nuclear quadrupole resonance measurement on a material, comprising the steps of:
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placing a target material between spaced apart elements of a transmission line terminated with a load equal to the impedance of the transmission line wherein the transmission line is balanced and effectively has a Q of zero; driving the transmission line through a directional coupler with a transmitted signal having a frequency equal to that of a spectral lines of the target material; and
,detecting a stimulated emission caused by nuclear quadrupole resonance of the target material from a received signal at an output of the directional coupler wherein the received signal is isolated from the transmitted signal, so that interference between the transmitted signal to the transmission line and the received signal from the transmission line is minimized. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A device for performing a nuclear quadrupole resonance measurement on a material, comprising:
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spaced apart elements of a transmission line wherein the transmission line is terminated with a load equal to the impedance of the transmission line so that the transmission line is balanced and effectively has a Q of zero; a frequency generator connected to the transmission line and configured to generate a transmission signal in the transmission line having a frequency equal to that of a spectral line of a target material positioned between the spaced apart elements; a signal detector configured to detect a received signal from the transmission line indicative of a stimulated emission caused by nuclear quadrupole resonance of the target material in response to the transmission signal; and a directional coupler connected between the transmission line and the signal detector to isolate the received signal from the transmission signal so that interference between the transmitted signal and the received signal will be minimized. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19)
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Specification