Well, in addition to having a total lack of scientific background to host this blog, I have discovered that I am "blog and group illiterate." BUT TODAY, I have some wonderful news that will help address the first deficiency. Dr. Dan Mittleman has emailed me about my group/blog, and has given me permission to reprint his comments. WOW! What an incredible resource for those of us interested in Terahertz. (Now if I could only figure how to allow parties to post on the group?) Anyone, care to help?
"Randy,
I've looked at your blog just now. An interesting idea. I will be curious to see what kind of following you attract.
Two small comments:
1. It appears that one needs to have some kind of account in order to post a comment. I don't have any of those accounts. Did you intend that?
2. One thing I can do for your blog is to eliminate hype which raises false hopes. You have written: " Similar to x-rays, Thz, is able to image internal structures of people and things." THz radiation cannot image structures inside people, and it never will. You might want to correct that.
Regards,Dan
Dr. Daniel Mittleman"
You do need an account to comment, but it can be a Google or a Yahoo account, which many people already have. If not, one can be created quite simply by providing an e-mail address (such as gmail or yahoo mail) and a password. It just has to be a valid e-mail address.
ReplyDeleteBlog postings are just for a single individual -- that's the nature of a blog -- with comments from many. Groups can have many (a group of) posters depending on how the group is set up.
On x-rays -- not a good analogy. Remember we are dealing with far infrared spectra. Visible light doesn't penetrate far into the body, and while terahertz can penetrate a bit further, it is quickly attenuated by water and molecular interactions. As Dan Mittleman stated, terahertz is never going to replace x-rays, either conventional x-rays or Computed Tomography (CT) x-ray systems. Terahertz has a niche, but due to current (April 2009) speed, power, and cost contraints in Time Domain methods, that niche is fairly limited. In time the niche will expand, but bare in mind there are competing technologies for many applications, so as the niche grows to encompass more applications, it will need to be competitive on a cost vs. benefit basis against established solutions.
thanks Dave! I need some help here, and you are one of the people I was hoping would jump in. This IS an exciting technology, so let's get the word out...
ReplyDeleteon the companion group page there was a response by numbrcruncher to the initial post in this thread, with a follow up from Dr. Mittleman, that I wanted to share here on the blog.
ReplyDeleteThe first post is numbercrucher:
"I like that it has gotten Mr Mittleman's attention. I just returned from my Safety Conference and the speakers that I talked to from many diverse backgrounds have never heard of Thz. Some thought it was interesting enough to look at further, but from my vantage point, I don't see anyone wanting to trade in a chemical sensing device that cost's under $5k and can monitor for about 100 chemicals for at Thz unit that might cost $150K. JMHO. They might need to look at a particular need, like when it's in containers without vapors present. I think API needs to show the processing potential for NDT."
The following is Dr. Mittleman's response to Numbr
____
Apr 8, 5:48 pm
"My opinion is exactly consistent with your observation. The limiting
factor on this technology right now is (1) the price of systems, and
(2) the lack of awareness of most people about what THz is and what it
can do (and what it can't do). The second problem is easier to solve
(see: blogs); the first one is a real challenge. For now. "
The link to the group is:
http://groups.google.com/group/terahertz--advanced-photonix-api?hl=en