Patent ID: 7081747

Claim:
Apparatus for interrogating a sample that exhibits molecular rotation, comprising: a container adapted for receiving the sample, the container having both magnetic and electromagnetic shielding; a source of noise for injection into the sample, with the sample in the container; a detector for detecting an electromagnetic time-domain signal composed of sample source radiation superimposed on the injected Gaussian noise; a storage device for storing the time-domain signal and a second time-domain signal separately detected from the same or a similar sample; and an electronic computer which is adapted to receive the stored signal from the storage device, and to process the signal by: (i) cross correlating the time-domain signal detected with the second time-domain signal, to produce a frequency-domain spectrum in a frequency range within DC to 50 KHz, and (ii) generating an output that includes information relating to spectral components in the spectrum that are characteristic of the sample.