Experimental Investigation on Terahertz Spectra of Amphetamine Type Stimulants

Abstract

The spectral absorption features of three amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) belonging to illicit drugs have been studied with terahertz (THz) time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) and the characteristic absorption spectra (fingerprint spectra) are obtained in the range from 0.2 to 2.5 THz. Fingerprint spectra of illicit drugs in terahertz band are bases to detect and to inspect nondestructively illicit drugs with terahertz technique. With fingerprint spectra of illicit drugs and strong penetrability for cloths, paper bags and leathered or plastic luggage terahertz technique would be better than other techniques in illicit drugs detection and inspection. Thus, this work would contribute to the building of corresponding fingerprint spectra database of illicit drugs and provide experimental bases for using of terahertz detection apparatus in drugs nondestructive detection and inspection in the future.