Enhanced nuclear quadrupole resonance and ground penetrating radar using metamaterial antenna

• US 9,945,917 B2
• Filed: 01/08/2014
• Issued: 04/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/08/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Inventors: Drake, Christina Hartsell, Baleine, Clara Rivero, Poon, Nelson Ch
• Primary Examiner(s): Laballe, Clayton E
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pu, Ruifeng
• Application Number:
  US14/150,704
• Publication Number:
  US 20150260812A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,560 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 24/084 Detection of potentially hazardous samples, e.g. toxic samples, explosives, drugs, firearms, weapons
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/34092 RF coils specially adapted for NMR spectrometers
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/3635 Multi-frequency operation
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/441 Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance [NQR] Spectroscopy and Imaging

Abstract

A method and system for enhanced NQR or GPR include a metamaterial antenna configured to both transmit and receive a magnetic field focused at a near-field distance separated from the antenna at a corresponding antenna frequency corresponding to a nuclear quadrupole resonance frequency of an atom in a target material.

Claims

1. A system comprising a plurality of metamaterial antennae to both transmit and receive a corresponding plurality of magnetic fields focused at a corresponding plurality of near-field distances separated from the plurality of antennae, at a corresponding plurality of different antenna frequencies corresponding to a plurality of nuclear quadrupole resonance frequencies of an atom in a target material, wherein at least one metamaterial antenna of the plurality of metamaterial antennae comprises a substrate with a singular first ring element connected to a first side of the substrate and a second ring element each respectively connected to an opposing second side of the substrate.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of metamaterial antennae simultaneously transmit signals at the different antenna frequencies and subsequently receive return signals at the different antenna frequencies to detect a nuclear quadrupole spectrum of frequencies associated with the target material at the near-field distance.

3. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of metamaterial antennae substantively eliminate de-tuning from loading effects from a nearby broadcasting antenna or water in a medium within the near-field distance, of the plurality of metamaterial antennae.

4. The system as recited in claim 1, further comprising at least one metamaterial lens disposed between the plurality of metamaterial antennae and a subject that includes the target material, wherein the at least one metamaterial lens at least one of amplifies focused near-field energy of an individual antenna frequency corresponding to a weak nuclear quadrupole resonance frequency and increases a corresponding antenna near-field distance.

5. The system as recited in claim 1, further comprising a processor to identify the target material present in a vicinity of the near-field distance based at least in part on the received magnetic field at the plurality of metamaterial antennae focused at the near-field distance and a nuclear quadrupole resonance spectrum for the target material.

6. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the atom is Nitrogen 14 (¹⁴N).

7. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the target material is a narcotic.

8. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the target material is an explosive.

9. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of metamaterial antennae comprise an impedance that matches an impedance of a feeder line to the plurality of metamaterial antennae.

10. The system as recited in claim 9, wherein at least one of the metamaterial antennae and the feeder line have an impedance of 50 ohms.

11. The system as recited in claim 1, further comprising a ground penetrating radar (GPR) metamaterial antenna to both transmit and receive an electromagnetic field at a GPR frequency to interrogate a region of interest for broad area assessment for a suspect target material.

12. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of metamaterial antennae are stacked closely together so that the corresponding magnetic fields substantively overlap in space.

13. A method comprising:

interrogating a region of interest (ROI) with a ground penetrating radar (GPR) antenna to detect a suspect target material in a vicinity of the GPR antenna;

transmitting a plurality of nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) frequencies from a plurality of stacked metamaterial antennae focused at the suspect target material, at least one metamaterial antenna of the plurality of metamaterial antennae comprises a substrate with a singular first ring element connected to a first side of the substrate and a second ring element each respectively connected to an opposing second side of the substrate;

receiving, by the plurality of stacked metamaterial antennas, magnetic fields of NQR frequency signals from the suspect target material to capture a NQR frequency spectrum; and

identifying, by a processor, the suspect target material based on the captured NQR frequency spectrum.

14. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein identifying the suspect target material includes identifying a chemical compound in the suspect target material.

15. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein transmitting the plurality of nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) frequencies from the plurality of stacked metamaterial antennas include transmitting, simultaneously, the plurality of NQR frequencies.

16. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein the GPR antenna is a metamaterial antenna stacked with the plurality of stacked metamaterial antennae.