The applications of terahertz (THz) waves have been increasing rapidly in different fields such as information and communication technology, homeland security and biomedical engineering. However, study on the possible health implications due to various biological effects induced by THz waves is relatively scarce. Previously, it has been reported that the human sweat ducts play a significant role in the interaction of the THz wave with human skin due to its coiled structure. This structure imposes on them the electromagnetic character of a helical antenna. To further understand these phenomena, we investigated the morphological features of human sweat ducts and the dielectric properties of their surrounding medium. Based upon these parameters, we estimated the frequency of the resonance of the human sweat duct in a normal mode of operation and our estimation showed that there is a broad resonance around 228 GHz. This result indicates that careful consideration should be given while designing electronic and photonic devices operating in the sub-terahertz frequency region in order to avoid various effects on human health due to these waves.
Keywords: (040.2235) Far infrared or terahertz; (170.4500) Optical coherence tomography; (280.1415) Biological sensing and sensors; (300.6495) Spectroscopy, terahertz.