Terahertz technology continues to advance both in terms of terahertz sources and terahertz detectors, with new applications coming to the fore weekly. Note that some recent breakthroughs are based on quantum-cascade laser (QCL) technology:
1. Researchers from EPFL and ETHZ have created a CW terahertz-radiation-emitting QCL that produces single-mode surface emission with a 3 mW output power at 3.12 THz in a collimated beam:
Terahertz quantum-cascade laser emits 3 mW continuous-wave
2. Researchers at Northwestern University developed a room-temperature terahertz source—a dream device that has been sought by terahertz researchers for decades—based on nonlinear mixing of two mid-infrared wavelengths at 9.3 microns and 10.4 microns inside a single quantum cascade laser:
Northwestern Researchers Develop Compact, High-Power Terahertz Source at Room Temperature
3. Advanced Photonix Inc. (API), maker of terahertz systems, is getting mainstream attention and will be touting terahertz technology and its ability "to solve some of the most difficult quality control and nondestructive testing applications around the world":
Advanced Photonix Selected to Appear on 21st Century Business Television Series
4. A recent article on Laser Focus World's website describes TeraView's TPS Spectra 3000 system and its ability to perform terahertz spectral characterization of different explosives; the system uses terahertz radiation from 0.060 THz to 3.5 THz to determine the refractive index, absorbance, and complex permittivity of the explosive samples:
TeraView terahertz spectroscopic system characterizes small explosive samples
5. A high-performance terahertz receiver aiming for space missions such as ESA's "Jupiter icy moons explorer" or JUICE has been developed in a joint European effort led by Chalmers University of Technology:
Terahertz sensor aiming for Jupiter's moons
Gail Overton | Senior Editor (2004-2020)
Gail has more than 30 years of engineering, marketing, product management, and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry. Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004, she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry, most notably at Hughes (El Segundo, CA), GTE Labs (Waltham, MA), Corning (Corning, NY), Photon Kinetics (Beaverton, OR), and Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA). During her marketing career, Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training. Gail received her BS degree in physics, with an emphasis in optics, from San Diego State University in San Diego, CA in May 1986.