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A Tiny Device With Immense Scope

It looks like the world's smallest diving board with a length of just 80 microns and the thickness of 0.5 microns- which is one-fourth the diameter of a human hair.

But the cantilever, though deceptively simple and small in structure, could be the solution for a major problem -- detecting landmines.

Conceived by Dr.Thomas Thundat, 43 and his colleagues at the Oak Ridge National laboratory, Tennessee, the landmine detector which is still in the developmental stage, brought Thundat the prestigious Discover magazine award for technological innovation last year.

Working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Department of Treasury's Alcoholism, Tobacco and Firearms agency, Thundat and his colleagues are developing a device which besides being able to detect landmines should also be able to detect explosives in airport luggage.

Heated to 1060 degrees Fahrenheit, it lies in wait for combustible fumes to waft up from hidden explosives, which will on contact erupt in microscopic explosions. These explosions trigger the cantilever and make it wriggle at a characteristic frequency enabling the device to identify the explosive and thus the mine.

Landmines, a problem brought to the world's attention by the late Princess Diana, have now been pushed to the background after her death. But Thundat, appalled by the frightening statistics was determined to find a solution to a problem which essentially affects poor countries.

"Most people don't care about landmines, because it is not in our backyards but it is rampant in poor countries and we need to do something about it. I got interested in it because it causes a lot of problems in third world countries. I looked at it from the humanitarian point. The underlying philosophy of all scientists is to make life better and easier for people," said Thundat.

The figures speak for themselves. Every year 26,000 people are killed by landmines. In Angola alone, there are 80,00 landmine amputees, most of them children- almost 1 out of 140 people.

Fewer than 10 per cent ever receive prosthetic limbs. Current figures show that more than 110 million active mines are scattered over 64 countries. For every mine removed, 10 more are laid. At the current rate of removal, it will take a few thousand years to remove all the mines that are estimated to be deployed worldwide.

In Afghanistan alone, assuming no additional mines are laid, it will take about 4000 years to remove all the mines. It takes just three dollars to fashion a crude land mine, but conventional landmine detectors cost at least $20 K. Since it is so expensive to detect landmines, in third-world countries, landmines are often removed by hand. It is given to the poorest of the poor, who crawl through suspect terrain poking the ground with sticks.

"There exists a wide spread need for humanitarian de-mining in many parts of the world. Current devices for locating landmines are expensive and require bulky, complex, and cumbersome equipment and trained personnel," said Thundat.The cantilever, on the contrary will be small, cheap and easy to use when eventually used on the field.

"The beauty of this revolutionary technology is that it is extremely sensitive, selective and regenerates itself after each use for continuous operation. It is a simple technology that can be used in any corner of the world by local people without elaborate training. It consumes such little power that it can be operated with a battery or photovoltaic cell," said Thundat.

But the main problem facing landmine detection research is funding.

"Landmines is a third world problem, so there is not much money going into its research," lamented Thundat.

The cantilever, which is a platform, can be modified and made into a biosensor or an explosion sensor. Dr.Thundat and his team have modifed it to make a Night vision camera.

"We all emit infrared radiation. When it falls on an array of cantilevers, it will produce pictures. The night vision camera will be much cheaper than than the ones available in the market now. Right now they vary from $25,000- $100,000. If we can make it for $300, then everybody can use it," explained Thundat.

Thundat and his team are also researching the cantilever technology to detect DNA mismatches in certain cancers. " If you go to the doctor's office, you can get your results right away. That's our goal. We can have not only one cantilever but also 100s of cantilevers in one square area. So we can detect many diseases at the same time. This technology will save time and money and it will also work faster," said Thundat.

Dr.Thundat came to the United States in 1981to do his Ph.D. A native of Kerala, and a graduate of IIT, Madras, he got his Ph.D. from the State University of New York and a post- doctoral from Arizona University.

He is a senior research scientist and the leader of the Nanoscale Science and Devices group at the Oak Ridge national laboratory. He is the author of over 125 publications in refereed journals, 8 patents and 9 pending patents. But though he is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Young Scientist Award, R&D 100 Award, Inventors Hall of Fame Award etc., the Discover Award is particularly special to him because by recognizing his efforts it also recognized a problem close to his heart-- landmines.

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