Advanced Photonix wants to take just a peek at your body with its new scanners, and that's the point behind the Ann Arbor firm's new technology.
Excerpt:
Ann Arbor -- While the battle between security and privacy puts the use of airport body scanners in question, a small company in Ann Arbor is working on a new technology that could satisfy both sides.
In a pair of buildings just off Interstate 94 in the southern end of the city, Advanced Photonix Inc. researchers are working with next-generation technology to take privacy concerns out of the scanning equation.
For 15 years, engineers at the company have been manipulating the electromagnetic spectrum for high-end customers like NASA and the pharmaceutical industry.
The company's specialty -- terahertz waves -- may also provide a key breakthrough in the scanning debate.
They don't get the name recognition of X-rays and millimeter waves, which are the cornerstones of current scanning technologies. But terahertz waves can do something those others can't.
A terahertz scan can identify the makeup of a material, whether it's the metal of a gun, or the chemical signature of PETN, the chemical explosive that authorities say terror suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab used in his Christmas Day bombing attempt.
Current scanners produce a high-definition image of travelers, which some see as an invasion of privacy. That ability of terahertz waves to identify material without the use of detailed images could provide the necessary compromise.
"With terahertz technology, we can take a more general outline of the subject and just look for metal or explosives in the chemical signatures," said Richard Kurtz, API's chairman and chief executive officer. "A lot of the research is out of the way, so the next phase will be development and engineering."
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