Radiofrequency Dosimetry Laboratory

The Radiofrequency Dosimetry Laboratory was funded by Telstra Corporation and Swinburne and is part of the NHMRC-fundedAustralian Centre for Electromagnetic Bioeffects Research.

Our lab is also used by other external organisations for testing purposes and as a Swinburne research and teaching space.

In order to measure radiofrequency (RF) energy absorption in the body, our lab contains an RF anechoic chamber, anthropomorphic phantom, source simulators, survey meters, small-animal and biological sample exposure chambers and a wide variety of test and measurement equipment.

The widespread use of mobile telecommunications, especially 5G, has increased the variety and complexity of our everyday exposure to RF transmissions. A set of international safety standards has been developed to set limits for human exposure to RF energy and address concerns about human exposure.

Demonstrating compliance with these standards is not simple. Whether and how RF energy is absorbed by the body is not easy to measure. For example, different tissues have differing susceptibility and RF energy beams can spread out and be reflected off nearby objects.

The RF Dosimetry Lab includes features to measure such variables. The laboratory is supported by high-end computer facilities for electromagnetic and thermal simulations and by milimetre-wave spectometer equipment. Further information concerning this facility can be found via this edition of ourResearch Impactmagazine.

Our facilities

THz Spectrometer

THz spectroscopy is a new spectroscopic method that uses THz waves or THz light ranging from 300 GHz to 10 THz.

There are many different THz spectroscopy systems depend on the type of wave generation methods. Their application covers various areas such as biology, medicine inspection, biomedical diagnosis, food inspection, explosive inspection for security, or environment monitoring. They are mainly used in scientific research, however, it is expected near future use and application in everyday life.

The TDS1008 is a benchtop terahertz time-domain spectrometer (TDS) containing the following components inside the spectrometer housing:

• Sample compartment, which can be purged dry nitrogen gas
• Sample holder for transmission measurements inside the sample compartment
• Complete optics (including the femtosecond laser) and electronics to run the spectrometer. The spectrometer software T3DS is connected via USB to operate the TDS system.

THz spectrometer

A second software package is used in order to determine the sample properties using the data collected.

TDS1008太赫兹光谱仪包含femtosecond pulse laser with a wavelength of 780 nm and pulse duration ~ 100 fs. This laser in combination with high performance photoconductive antennas allows a large spectral bandwidth and a high dynamic range. The TDS1008 parameters inside the sample compartment are:

• spectral bandwidth: 0.05–4.0 THz
• dynamic range: ≥ 85 dB