Microwave-induced thermoacoustic imaging for embedded explosives detection

Taking advantages of the high contrast of microwave imaging and high spatial resolution of ultrasound imaging, microwave-induced thermoacoustic imaging (TAI), a non-ionizing modality, has been studied for biomedical applications, such as breast cancer detection. Nowadays, although progress has been made, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are still a major threat to public safety. In this simulation study, TAI is applied to detect explosives embedded in a biological or other high-water content sample. Initial results suggest that TAI is a promising modality to detect embedded explosives.