Terahertz spectroscopy of explosives and simulants: RDX, PETN, sugar, and L-tartaric acid

We report on the transmission and reflection terahertz (THz) spectra of the high explosives RDX and PETN. These common military explosives are compared to simulants L-tartaric acid and sucrose, respectively. The use of these simulants enables researchers to develop many aspects of THz spectroscopy for explosives detection without the need for live explosives. Further, we discuss the effect of sample preparation on the THz spectrum of RDX and demonstrate that experiments performed on different terahertz instruments at multiple laboratories show quantitative agreement between spectra recorded with four different instruments.