Will terahertz technology become reality?

One step closer to making terahertz technology usable in the real world

Researchers have discovered in two-dimensional conductive systems a new effect that promises improved performance of terahertz detectors. A team of scientists at the Cavendish Laboratory, together with colleagues at the Universities of Augsburg (Germany) and Lancaster, has found a new physical effect when two-dimensional electron systems are exposed to terahertz waves.

First of all, what are terahertz waves? "We communicate using mobile phones that transmit microwave radiation and use infrared cameras for night vision. Terahertz is the type of electromagnetic radiation that lies in-between microwave and infrared radiation," explains Prof. David Ritchie, Head of the Semiconductor Physics Group at the Cavendish Laboratory of the University of Cambridge, "but at the moment, there is a lack of sources and detectors of this type of radiation that would be cheap, efficient, and easy to use. This hinders the widespread use of terahertz technology." Researchers from the Semiconductor Physics group, together with researchers from Pisa and Torino in Italy, were the first to demonstrate, in 2002, the operation of a laser at terahertz frequencies, a quantum cascade laser. Since then the group has continued to research terahertz physics and technology and currently investigates and develops functional terahertz devices incorporating metamaterials to form modulators, as well as new types of detectors. Read more...

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