Measuring absorption coefficient of excised animal skin exposed to THz radiation

Abstract

By employing a FTIR spectrometer aligned for THz beam in the Australian Synchrotron, we measured absorption coefficients of different toad skin patches. Skin samples were precisely excised from cane toad and prepared for experiments in dried and fresh states. The transmission and attenuated total reflection modes were designated to measure absorption coefficients through mathematical relations between transmittance and absorption. The transmission study shows that in the frequency range of 0.8 to around 3 THz the dark part of toad skin demonstrates higher absorption than the pale part in both dried and fresh states while it is reversed at higher frequencies. Both dark and pale skin patches perform much less absorption than distilled water. ATR data corroborates the same result in the frequency range of 0.75 to 0.95 THz.