Abstract-This paper overviews the latest trends of millimeterwave (MMW) imaging technologies, focusing mainly on applications of and technical parameter variations for security surveillance and nondestructive inspections (NDI). We introduce a smart NDI tool using active W-band imaging, which is capable of detecting hidden surface cracks in concrete structures.

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Recent studies of saccharides' peculiar anti-freezing and anti-dehydration properties point to a close association with their strong hydration capability and destructuring effect on the hydrogen bond (HB) network of bulk water. The underlying mechanisms are, however, not well understood. In this respect, examination of the complex dielectric constants of saccharide aqueous solutions, especially over a broadband frequency region, should provide interesting insights into these properties, since the dielectric responses reflect corresponding dynamics over the time scales measured. In order to do this, the complex dielectric constants of glucose solutions between 0.5 GHz and 12 THz (from the microwave to the far-infrared region) were measured. We then performed analysis procedures on this broadband spectrum by decomposing it into four Debye and two Lorentz functions, with particular attention being paid to the β relaxation (glucose tumbling), δ relaxation (rotational polarization of the hydrated water), slow relaxation (reorientation of the HB network water), fast relaxation (rotation of the non-HB water), and intermolecular stretching vibration (hindered translation of water). On the basis of this analysis, we revealed that the hydrated water surrounding the glucose molecules exhibits a mono-modal relaxational dispersion with 2-3 times slower relaxation times than unperturbed bulk water and with a hydration number of around 20. Furthermore, other species of water with distorted tetrahedral HB water structures, as well as increases in the relative proportion of non-HB water molecules which have a faster relaxation time and are not a part of the surrounding bulk water HB network, was found in the vicinity of the glucose molecules. These clearly point to the HB destructuring effect of saccharide solutes in aqueous solution. The results, as a whole, provide a detailed picture of glucose-water and water-water interactions in the vicinity of the glucose molecules at various time scales from sub-picosecond to hundreds of picoseconds.

We have designed a structure for a 2×2 silica-based optical waveguide switch that is based on a thermocapillarity effect. This switch can use the reflection walls on both sides of the slit, because the Goos–Hänchen shift effect was taken into account when the structure of the waveguides and the slit was designed. This switch can provide a cross/bar function through a single element, and the measured reflection losses in the reflection walls on both sides of the slit were consistent. The loss was comparable to the insertion loss of a Mach–Zender-interferometer-type thermo-optic switch.

ZnTe epilayers were grown on transparent substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. The insertion of a low-temperature buffer layer was carried out, and the influence of the buffer layer thickness and its annealing on the crystallographic property were investigated. Pole figure imaging was used to study the domain distribution in the layer. It was shown that the (111) ZnTe epilayer with the decreased number of domains could be formed on c-sapphire when a 3.5-nm-thick annealed ZnTe buffer layer was inserted. It was shown that the XRD pole figure imaging was a useful means of analyzing domain distributions in the film.