The unexplored avenues of human skin: electromagnetic properties in the sub-THz band

Y. Feldman; E. Safrai; P. Ben Ishai; A. Puzenko; A. J. Agranat; A. Caduff

doi:10.1117/12.906203

9 February 2012 The unexplored avenues of human skin: electromagnetic properties in the sub-THz band

Y. Feldman, E. Safrai, P. Ben Ishai, A. Puzenko, A. J. Agranat, A. Caduff

Proceedings Volume 8221, Optical Interactions with Tissue and Cells XXIII; 82210Q (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.906203
Event: SPIE BiOS, 2012, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

Recent studies of the minute morphology of the skin by optical coherence tomography showed that the sweat ducts in human skin become helically shaped tubes in the Epidermis and are filled with an aqueous solution. When considered as entities embedded in a dielectric media, they resemble helical antennas. The spectral response obtained by our computer simulations coincides with the analytical prediction of antenna theory and support this hypothesis, if a fast enough current mechanism exists in the duct. In particular the strongest spectral response of the simulation was noted around the predicted frequencies (240 GHz and 380 GHz) for the respective normal and axial modes of the helical structure. Furthermore, circular dichroism of the reflected electromagnetic field is a characteristic property of such helical antennas and it was shown that it is indeed a characteristic of the simulation model. Fast proton hopping is posited as the current mechanism. Consequently experimental evidence is presented that the spectral response of the skin in the sub-Terahertz region is governed by the level of activity of the perspiration system. This in turn is moderated by the Sympathetic Nerve Response and is demonstrated by the correlation to physiological stress as manifested by the pulse rate and the systolic blood pressure. These physical relaxations are tonic in nature (lasting more than a minute). Could the phasic characteristic of emotional excitation also be evident in the reflection coefficient? By applying techniques borrowed from psychiatric science we hope to answer this point in our paper.

Citation Download Citation

Y. Feldman, E. Safrai, P. Ben Ishai, A. Puzenko, A. J. Agranat, and A. Caduff "The unexplored avenues of human skin: electromagnetic properties in the sub-THz band", Proc. SPIE 8221, Optical Interactions with Tissue and Cells XXIII, 82210Q (9 February 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.906203

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available

Members: $17.00

Non-members: $21.00 ADD TO CART

PROCEEDINGS
9 PAGES

DOWNLOAD PAPER SAVE TO MY LIBRARY

GET CITATION

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

Get copyright permission Get copyright permission on Copyright Marketplace

KEYWORDS

Skin

Continuous wavelet transforms

Blood pressure

Antennas

Electromagnetism

Extremely high frequency

Dielectrics

Show All Keywords

Keywords/Phrases

Search In:

Publication Years