Broadband terahertz time-domain spectroscopy of drugs-of-abuse and the use of principal component analysis.
Terahertz frequency time-domain spectroscopy has been used to analyse a wide range of samples containing cocaine hydrochloride, heroin and ecstasy--common drugs-of-abuse. We investigated real-world samples seized by law enforcement agencies, together with pure drugs-of-abuse, and pure drugs-of-abuse systematically adulterated in the laboratory to emulate real-world samples. In order to investigate the feasibility of automatic spectral recognition of such illicit materials by terahertz spectroscopy, principal component analysis was employed to cluster spectra of similar compounds.
Burnett
Andrew D
AD
Institute of Microwaves and Photonics, School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK LS2 9JT. A.D.Burnett@leeds.ac.uk
Fan
Wenhui
W
Upadhya
Prashanth C
PC
Cunningham
John E
JE
Hargreaves
Michael D
MD
Munshi
Tasnim
T
Edwards
Howell G M
HG
Linfield
Edmund H
EH
Davies
A Giles
AG
D003042:Cocaine / Q000032:analysis*; D003932:Heroin / Q000032:analysis*; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000379:methods*; D055069:Terahertz Imaging; D055068:Terahertz Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods*
D003932:Heroin; D003042:Cocaine