MIT researchers develop prototype imaging system capable of reading pages of closed books

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a prototype imaging system that is capable of reading pages of a book without opening it.

A similar exercise was conducted at MIT a decade ago, when researchers demonstrated the ability to look through a sealed envelope using terahertz waves - the band of electromagnetic radiation between microwaves and infrared light.

The project, led Barmak Heshmat, a present-day research scientist at MIT's Media Lab, questions just how deep one could look through a closed book using terahertz waves.

Working in association with researchers from Georgia Tech, Heshmat and colleagues have demonstrated the ability to identify letters up to nine pages deep. With the development of technology, the team looked to be able to peer deeper into a book without opening it.

To test the device, the teams stacked several sheets of paper, with each page having a single letter printed upon it. The system correctly identified the letters printed on the top nine sheets. According to commentators, while the machine may not be able to see through an actual cover quite yet, it was the hoped for end result.

''The Metropolitan Museum in New York showed a lot of interest in this, because they want to, for example, look into some antique books that they don't even want to touch,'' said Heshmat.

The system works due to terahertz radiation, described as ''the band of electromagnetic radiation between microwaves and infrared light.'' This sort of radiation was often used in security screening as ''different chemicals absorb different frequencies of terahertz radiation to different degrees, yielding a distinctive frequency signature for each,'' www.digitaltrends.com reported.

That meant terahertz frequency profiles were capable of making the distinction between, say, ink and paper, whereas other penetrating radiation like X-rays could not.