www.npl.co.

uk
Measurement of Dielectric
Properties of Human Skin
in vivo at THz Frequencies
M. Naftaly
1
,

E. Grandy
1,2
and J.F. Molloy
1
1
National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, UK
2
Queen Mary, University of London, London, UK
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by the National Measurement Ofce of UK and by
Queen Mary University of London
Abstract
Determining the dielectric constants of human skin in vivo is an
essential step in evaluating the efects of exposure to terahertz
(THz) radiation. In this experiment THz time-domain spectroscopy
was used in refection mode to measure the refractive indices of the
posterior forearm of 6 subjects.
References
[1] E. Barry, G. C. Walker, A. J. Fitzgerald, N. N. Zinovev, M. Chamberlin, R.
A. Miles and M. A. Smith, Do in vivo terahertz imaging systems comply
with safety guidelines? Journal of Laser Applications, 15 (2003) 192-8.
[2] E. Pickwell-MacPherson, Practical Consideration of in vivo THz Imaging,
Terahertz Science and Technology, 3 (2011) 163-171.
[3] E. Pickwell, E. B. Cole, A. J. Fitzgerald, M. Pepper, and V. P. Wallace,
In vivo study of human skin using pulsed terahertz radiation, Physics
and Medicine in Biology, 7 (2004) 1595-607.
[4] S. J. Oh, J. H. Son, O. Yoo, D. H. Lee, Terahertz characteristics of
electrolytes in aqueous Luria-Bertani media Journal of Applied
Physics,102 (2007) 074702.
Conclusions
Clear diferences observed between
the refractive indices of the two
subjects shown in Figure 3.
The refractive index curve for
Subject 1 coincides closely with that
for the LB medium, whereas the
curve for Subject 2 diverges from it
at frequencies below 0.7 THz.
Results indicate that the surface
layer of the skin of Subject 1 had
higher water content (was more
hydrated) than that of Subject 2.
Considerable variability was
observed amongst all subjects
studied.
Figure 1: Skin refectivity measurement setup:
a) schematic diagram of the setup; b) photograph a subjects arm with the measurement area indicated.
Figure 3: Mean refractive index of skin
calculated from data in Figure 2:
Figure 2: Time-domain refection traces from
repeat measurements of one subject.
Bio-similar medium: the Luria-Bertani (LB)
solution containing sodium chloride and
natural materials in concentrations similar to
physiological environment.
R
e
f
r
a
c
t
i
v
e

i
n
d
e
x
R
e
f
r
a
c
t
i
v
e

i
n
d
e
x
T
H
z

s
i
g
n
a
l

m
V
T
H
z

s
i
g
n
a
l

m
V
Subject 1
Mean & SD of 6 runs
bio-similar medium
Subject 2
Mean & SD of 6 runs
bio-similar medium
Arm
THz beam
TPX Window
Posterior
forearm
11