Electromagnetic scattering calculations for terahertz sensing

This paper presents predictions of classical electromagnetic scattering from granular material illuminated by a terahertz (THz) source. Random media models are created to represent the explosive grains, air voids and filler material commonly found in explosive devices. These constituents can cause significant volume scattering that may alter or obscure the chemical response of the explosive, thus impacting THz detection of explosives. Furthermore, the air-explosive interface may have significant roughness, and scattering from this interface may be a dominant factor - particularly in reflection spectroscopy. The volume scattering is calculated using the Quasi-Crystalline Approximation (QCA) and a Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) calculation; the FDTD method is also used to estimate the rough surface scattering. Results from these calculations are provided for mixtures that are representative of common classes of explosives.