Novel millimeter wave sensor concepts for energy, environment, and national security

Millimeter waves are ideally suited for sensing and diagnosing materials, devices, and processes that are broadly important to energy, environment, and national security. Thermal return reflection (TRR) techniques that detect and use thermal emission as a probe to diagnose materials and systems make possible accurate noncontact thermal analysis measurements that can resolve emissivity and temperature simultaneously. Scientific basis of TRR, 2-D and potentially 3-D measurements, and applications of TRR are discussed.