Airport Security Gets Real-Life X-Ray Specs

Scottish scientists are developing an airport scanning device which is so powerful it will make terrorist suspects appear naked.

The so called T-specs are a reallife version of X-ray specs which were a feature of superhero comics and Fifties B-movies.

Glasgow University scientists Dr Tim Drysdale and Dr David Cumming claim the devices provide far more detail than conventional X-ray scanners.

They say they could allow operators to differentiate Semtex from modelling clay and cocaine from sugar, making them a powerful weapon against terrorists and smugglers.

The device, which could eventually be miniaturised and worn like night vision goggles, works by emitting ultra fast beams of light, known as terahertz radiation.

The waves, which would be fired through specially engineered crystals to create three-dimensional pictures, pass straight through "flimsy" materials such as cloth, paper and plastics, but cannot penetrate dense material such as flesh or metal.

Objects such as knives, guns and other weapons would be seen clearly through the goggles, while clothing would be made invisible - and people would appear nude Professor Malcolm Dunn of the University of St Andrews, who is also researching terahertz waves, said: "That is one thing already causing difficulties for some people. There are concerns about protecting people's privacy and that is something which will have to be addressed in future." Dr Drysdale, of the university's department of electronics and electrical engineering, said: "With terahertz imaging, it is possible to see the body beneath the clothes, not just the bones you see with X-rays. It is the pattern of reflection and absorption of terahertz waves that builds the image.

"The depth of the structures can be calculated by the tiny time delay between the wave being emitted and reflected back." Dr Cumming added: "Different molecules absorb and reflect terahertz waves in a recognisable way. They have a kind of terahertz fingerprint and this is particularly useful for rapidly identifying the make-up of drugs and other substances." Dr Don Arnone, chief executive of TeraView, a Cambridge-based research company specialising in terahertz waves, said: "In future, in airports and other sensitive places, I can envisage bags being scanned for their terahertz fingerprints.

"I believe we are just three to five years away from having T-ray [terahertz] specs." Scientists have already reduced terahertz scanning devices to the size of a shoebox. Further miniaturisation will allow "X-ray spectacles", similar to night-vision goggles, to be created.

According to the National Physical Laboratory, an independent research institute, terahertz radiation appears to be far less harmful than X-rays, which have been linked to cancer.

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