destructive technique. It also requires a physical contact with the detected material, which is not always possible. On the other hand, this MIBS system is much simpler, smaller, and cheaper than any LIBS system, because it utilizes low-cost microwave components and could be realized as a portable tool. Yet, the microwave-drill-based MIBS technique is not considered as a substitute for the LIBS technology but more likely as a low-cost extension for specific field applications.The MIBS analyses and identification, demonstrated here by a simple algorithm, could be performed as well by various commercial programs with larger databases and more sophisticated algorithms available for LIBS systems. Such a program (e.g., AvaLIBS-Specline-A or similar) could be incorporated in the MIBS system to include additional elements.Besides technical improvements (like extension toward IR and UV spectral ranges, increasing the sampling rate, and improving optical resolution and sensitivity), the localized microwave-based AES could be incorporated with additional spectroscopic methods such as atomic absorption spectroscopy and atomic florescence spectroscopy in order to verify the identification of the elements in the detected bulk material. Similar microwave excitation concepts might be considered also for the detection of larger molecules and even chemical or biological agents. REFERENCES1.

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The article presents the design of a planar ultra‐wideband (UWB) monopole antenna with a deep band‐notched characteristic. The antenna has an elliptical radiator fed by a microstrip line and a small ground‐plane size of 30×15 mm2. Two pairs of meander lines (MLs) are employed to implement the deep band‐notched characteristic. One pair of the MLs is placed closely on both sides of the microstrip‐feed line with one of their ends shorted to ground. The other pair is placed at the upper edges of the ground plane on the other side of the substrate. The frequency range of the notched band can be controlled by the dimensions of the MLs. In our studies, the notched band is designed in the frequency band from 5.1 to 5.85 GHz to suppress the signals in the WLAN system. The antenna is studied and optimized using computer simulation. For verification of simulation results, the antenna is fabricated and measured. Results show that, by using the two pairs of MLs, the gain of the antenna at the notch frequency can be suppressed by 14 dB, with the efficiency reduced to less than 5%. Due to the small ground‐plane size used in the antenna, the feeding cable used for measurements in the measurement equipment has significant effects on the measured results. This leads to large discrepancies between the simulated and measured results at low frequencies. To study this, the model of the feeding cable is also included in simulation and the results show that the discrepancies are substantially reduced. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 55:1085–1091, 2013; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.27521