Remote Sensing by Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance
A. N. Garroway, M. L. Buess, J. B. Miller,
B. H. Suits, A. D. Hibbs, G. A. Barrall, R. Matthews,
and L. J. Burnett
Abstract
Detection of explosives has the flavor of those
mathematical problems that are not invertible. It is
easier to hide explosives than to find them. Many approaches
have been proposed and executed for the remote detection of
explosives, contraband materials, weapons of mass destruction,
currency, etc. Most detection technologies suffer from a
common problem: the features they look for, such as
discontinuities in electrical conductivity, are not
unique properties of the target but are contained,
to some degree, in the more benign surroundings. Such
a degeneracy leads to "clutter" in the response. For example,
resolving the false alarms generated by this clutter can
determine the rate of advance of a conventional electromagnetic
metal detector employed as a landmine detector. One approach
that provides a "unique" signature is nuclear quadrupole
resonance (NQR) (the technique is also called QR, to avoid
confusion with strictly nuclear techniques). This paper
outlines the important physical principles behind the use
of NQR for remote detection, indicates areas of
applicability, and presents recent results of field trials of
a prototype landmine detection system.
IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 39,
1108-1118 (2001).
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