Everything about Terahertz Radiation totally explained
Electromagnetic waves sent at
terahertz frequencies, known as
terahertz radiation,
terahertz waves,
terahertz light,
T-rays,
T-light,
T-lux and
THz, are in the region of the
electromagnetic spectrum between 300
gigahertz (3x10
11 Hz) and 3
terahertz (3x10
12 Hz), corresponding to the submillimeter
wavelength range between 1
millimeter (high-frequency edge of the
microwave band) and 100
micrometer (long-wavelength edge of
far-infrared light).
Introduction
Like
infrared radiation or
microwaves, these waves usually travel in
line of sight. Terahertz radiation is non-
ionizing submillimeter microwave radiation and shares with microwaves the capability to penetrate a wide variety of non-
conducting materials. Terahertz radiation can pass through
clothing,
paper,
cardboard,
wood,
masonry,
plastic and
ceramics. It can also penetrate
fog and
clouds, but can't penetrate
metal or
water.
The
Earth's atmosphere is a strong absorber of terahertz radiation, so the range of terahertz radiation is quite short, limiting its usefulness. In addition, producing and detecting
coherent terahertz radiation was technically challenging until the
1990s.
Sources
While terahertz radiation is emitted as part of the
black body radiation from anything with temperatures greater than about 10
kelvin, this thermal emission is very weak.
As of 2004 the only viable sources of terahertz radiation were the
gyrotron, the
backward wave oscillator ("BWO"), the
far infrared laser ("FIR laser"),
quantum cascade laser, the
free electron laser (
FEL),
synchrotron light sources,
photomixing sources, and single-cycle sources used in
Terahertz time domain spectroscopy. The first images generated using terahertz radiation date from the 1960's; however, in
1995, images generated using
terahertz time-domain spectroscopy generated a great deal of interest, and spanked a rapid growth in the field of terahertz science and technology. This excitement, along with the associated coining of the term "T-rays", even showed up in a contemporary novel by
Tom Clancy.
There have also been solid-state sources of millimeter and submillimeter waves for many years. AB Millimeter in Paris, for instance, produces a system that covers the entire range from 8 GHz to 1000 GHz with solid state sources and detectors. Nowadays, most time-domain work is done via ultrafast lasers.
In mid-2007, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, along with collaborators in Turkey and Japan, announced the creation of a compact device that can lead to a portable, battery-operated sources of T-rays, or terahertz radiation. The group was led by Ulrich Welp of Argonne's Materials Science Division.
The new T-ray sources created at Argonne use high-temperature superconducting crystals grown at the University of Tsukuba in Japan. These crystals comprise stacks of so-called
Josephson junctions that exhibit a unique electrical property: when an external voltage is applied, an alternating current will flow back and forth across the junctions at a frequency proportional to the strength of the voltage; this phenomenon is known as the
Josephson effect.
These alternating currents then produce electromagnetic fields whose frequency is tuned by the applied voltage. Even a small voltage – around two millivolts per junction – can induce frequencies in the terahertz range, according to Welp.
Theoretical and technological uses under development
- Medical imaging:
- Terahertz radiation is non-ionizing, and thus isn't expected to damage tissues and DNA, unlike X-rays. Some frequencies of terahertz radiation can penetrate several millimeters of tissue with low water content (for example fatty tissue) and reflect back. Terahertz radiation can also detect differences in water content and density of a tissue. Such methods could allow effective detection of epithelial cancer with a safer and less invasive or painful system using imaging.
- Some frequencies of terahertz radiation can be used for 3D imaging of teeth and may be more accurate and safer than conventional X-ray imaging in dentistry.
- Security:
- Terahertz radiation can penetrate fabrics and plastics, so it can be used in surveillance, such as security screening, to uncover concealed weapons on a person, remotely. This is of particular interest because many materials of interest, such as plastic explosives, have unique spectral "fingerprints" in the terahertz range. This offers the possibility to combine spectral identification with imaging. Passive detection of Terahertz signatures avoid the bodily privacy concerns of other detection by being targeted to a very specific range of materials and objects.
- Scientific use and imaging:
- Spectroscopy in terahertz radiation could provide novel information in chemistry and biochemistry.
- Recently developed methods of THz time-domain spectroscopy (THz TDS) and THz tomography have been shown to be able to perform measurements on, and obtain images of, samples which are opaque in the visible and near-infrared regions of the spectrum. The utility of THz-TDS is limited when the sample is very thin, or has a low absorbance, since it's very difficult to distinguish changes in the THz pulse caused by the sample from those caused by long term fluctuations in the driving laser source or experiment. However, THz-TDS produces radiation that's both coherent and broadband, so such images can contain far more information than a conventional image formed with a single-frequency source.
- A primary use of submillimeter waves in physics is the study of condensed matter in high magnetic fields, since at high fields (over about 15 teslas), the Larmor frequencies are in the submillimeter band. This work is performed at many high-magnetic field laboratories around the world.
- A fast growing use is in millimeter/submillimeter wave astronomy.
- Communication:
- Manufacturing:
Terahertz versus submillimeter waves
The terahertz band, covering the wavelength range between 0.1 and 1 mm, is identical to the submillimeter wavelength band. However, typically, the term "terahertz" is used more often in marketing in relation to generation and detection with pulsed lasers, as in
terahertz time domain spectroscopy, while the term "submillimeter" is used for generation and detection with microwave technology, such as harmonic multiplication.
References and notes
"Revealing the Invisible". Ian S. Osborne, Science 16 August 2002; 297: 1097.
Article in Nature
14 November 2002 (local copy from the Jefferson Lab)]
News and Views in Nature 14 November 2002 (local copy from the Jefferson Lab)
Instrumentation for millimeter-wave magnetoelectrodynamic investigations... Review of Scientific Instruments, 2000
Books on millimeter and submillimeter waves and RF optics
Quasioptical systems: Gaussian beam quasioptical propagation and applications, Paul F. Goldsmith, IEEE Press
Millimeter wave spectroscopy of solids, edited by G. Grüner, Springer
Detection of light: from the ultraviolet to the submillimeter, George Rieke, Cambridge
Modern millimeter-wave technologies, Tasuku Teshirogi and Tsukasa Yoneyama, eds, IOS press
Optoelectronic techniques for microwave and millimeter-wave engineering William Robertson, ArtechFurther Information
Get more info on 'Terahertz Radiation'.
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