Metageometries for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons detection at THz range in food systems

Abstract

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, when present in food systems, have been shown to have a detrimental effect on human health, producing carcinogenic elements. So, the implementation of processes for their detection and identification is of vital importance. Nowadays, there are different methodologies for this purpose, but they consist of expensive and time-consuming processes. Due to their enhanced sensitivity and more accurate detection capability, metageometries operating in the terahertz band arise as a new methodology to identify and detect different chemical or biological substances. In this work, we propose a labyrinth metageometry able to detect different polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons collected in European regulations as the most critical compounds with high experimental sensitivity. Our design is also capable to distinguish between different compounds at the same concentration. This work leads the way to the design of new metastructures able to improve the current detection limits, and thus obtain a new methodology, easier and less time-consuming that the actual methods.