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June 09 Issue - Employee Monthly Magazine
Expediting liquid carry-on screening for air travel
Lab researcher employs MRI technology to enhance
airport security
Michelle Espy is
project leader for the
MagViz liquid detection
and analysis
system. Photo by Richard Robinson
A terrorist plot to blow up aircraft with liquid explosive
components carried aboard was thwarted in London in
2006, prompting today’s three-ounce restriction for carryon
liquids. MagViz is a direct response to that type of
threat, said Michelle Espy, SQUID (superconducting quantum
interference device) team leader and technical staff
member in Physics Division.
Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), MagViz identifies
chemicals by measuring the magnetic interaction of
their protons with the local molecular environment, though
the fields are one thousand to one million times lower than
MRI machines used in hospitals. MagViz then matches the
proton signals from the scanned items to those in a database
of benign and ‘threat’ liquids.
The technology not only detects liquid explosives in less
than 60 seconds, it scans multiple containers simultaneously,
detects volumes as small as one millimeter, and “sees
through” metal containers.
“No other technology I am aware of can ensure that
hazardous chemicals aren’t getting taken aboard aircraft
without looking one bottle at a time,” said Espy, who holds
a doctorate in physics from the University of Minnesota and
has been at the Lab since 1996.
With three team LANL Distinguished Performance Awards,
a 2008 LANL Star Award, and a 2001 team DOE Energy
100 Award under her belt, Espy said her ultimate goal is to
help people. MagViz offers the potential to do just that in more ways than one.
“A low-field MRI machine like MagViz could mean that MRI as a medical tool could be available to
millions that do not have access to MRI – either because of economics or location,” explained Espy.
MagViz was demonstrated in the Albuquerque Sunport in December 2008 and was used there for
several weeks to scan confiscated items. Espy and her team are now building a second prototype to
be completed in July, and the technology was recently submitted for a 2009 R&D 100 Award.
“MagViz is one of those areas of research in which the benefits of the technology increased over time
as scientists began to realize other applications,” said Terry Wallace, principal associate director for
Science, Technology, and Engineering. “What started at Los Alamos National Laboratory as a novel
technique for brain imagery and a benefit to the medical profession has suddenly been realized as a
useful technology for protecting the homeland as well. Technology like this is what makes Los Alamos a premier national security science laboratory.”
—Mig Owens
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