Bacillus spores and their relevant chemicals studied by terahertz time domain spectroscopy

Terahertz time domain spectroscopy has been used to investigate 0.2–2.2 THz transmission responses of Bacillus spores and their related chemical components. Whilst no THz signatures could be clearly associated with either sporulated cells or their chief chemical components, differing degrees of signal attenuation and frequency-dependent light scattering were observed depending on spore composition and culture media. The observed monotonic increase in absorption by spores over this THz spectral domain is mainly from Mie scattering and also from remnant water bound to the spores.