Advantage of terahertz radiation versus X-ray to detect hidden organic materials in sealed vessels

Maryelle Bessou (1) , Henri Duday (1) , Jean-Pascal Caumes (2) , Simon Salort (3) , Bruno Chassagne (3) , Alain Dautant (4) , Anne Ziéglé (5) , Emmanuel Abraham (6)

1 PACEA - De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel : Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie
2 Museum d'Aquitaine
3 ALPhANOV
4 IBGC - Institut de biochimie et génétique cellulaires
5 Museum d'Aquitaine
6 LOMA - Laboratoire Ondes et Matière d'Aquitaine

Terahertz imaging and conventional X-ray have been used to investigate a sealed Ancient Egyptian jar preserved at the Museum of Aquitaine (France). Terahertz radiation revealed an unknown content that could not have been visualized by X-ray. By comparison with a model object, we concluded that this content was composed of organic materials explaining their relative radiolucency.

Mots clés: Cultural heritage; Art conservation; Organic materials; X-ray imaging; Terahertz imaging

Domaines: Optique / photonique; Héritage culturel et muséologie

Maryelle Bessou, Henri Duday, Jean-Pascal Caumes, Simon Salort, Bruno Chassagne, et al.. Advantage of terahertz radiation versus X-ray to detect hidden organic materials in sealed vessels. Optics Communications, 2012, 285 (21-22), pp.4175-4179. ⟨10.1016/j.optcom.2012.07.007⟩. ⟨hal-00731822⟩