Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Coherent Technology, Terahertz astronomy and market trends for THz



My Note: This post, is a composite, consisting of information found on the Coherent website that I found to be interesting. Coherent has historically supplied much of the technology used in orbital THz scanning, especially over the North & South poles. The first link contains a link to a number of interesting PDF files and articles about this work.  At the bottom of the post, I include a separate link relating to a study which can be purchased, and which relates to one research companies prediction of future market trends for THz commercialization. It's interesting to note that most of the commercial applications thus far have been in the area of astronomy, but this is slowly changing, as evidenced by the recent stories about commercial successes achieved by Advanced Photonix.  
https://www.coherent.com/products/?779/Terahertz-Lasers
Coherent’s team holds extensive expertise in optically pumped THz generation. With our systems capability, this team has designed and developed a THz local oscillator that was launched into orbit and is currently operational on a satellite circling the globe (see the paper below). Optically pumped THz generation offers the advantage of both high power and CW operation, ideal for development of solutions for security, non-destructive testing, imaging, and medical applications. Contact Coherent if you have a high power source requirement for commercial applications and would like to leverage Coherent’s expertise in this area.


There are numerous processes that occur in the far-infrared (FIR) region of the spectrum that have not been studied directly due to the lack of availability of ultrashort FIR pulses. Recent developments have yielded ultrashort FIR pulses, referred to as THz pulses (0.1 to about 6 THz), and the full capability of this technique is just starting to take off. Techniques once limited to the UV, visible and IR region can now begin to be applied to the FIR region as well. Attention has been focused on generating these THz pulses and understanding the physics of generation and propagation; now the actual THz pulses can be used as a spectroscopic tool.

THz spectroscopy has applications in semiconductors, liquids, gases and 2-D imaging. Imaging is rapidly emerging as an exciting THz application, and images can be taken using transmission or reflection geometry. By analyzing the THz waveform in either the time domain (material homogeneity or thickness variations) or the frequency domain (frequency-dependent absorption) as well as by other methods, images identifying material properties can be constructed (J.V. Rudd, D. Zimdars, and M. Warmuth, Picometrix, Inc., "Compact, fiber-pigtailed, terahertz imaging system"). Polar liquids and gases are highly absorptive in the THz regime; therefore, these type of samples are readily suitable for THz imaging. Such imaging serves as a complement to existing imaging methods or allows substances that haven't been studied previously to be imaged. Recent examples of published THz imaging applications include: identifying raisins in a box of cereal by water content; studying water uptake and evaporation in leaves; examining circuit interconnects in packaged ICs; reading text in envelopes or beneath paint; identifying tooth decay; locating water marks in currency (also from J.V. Rudd et al, "Compact, fiber-pigtailed, terahertz imaging system").

The number of commercially available terahertz imaging systems is extremely few even though many applications are emerging for THz imaging. New techniques have been developed for the generation and detection of THz radiation based on frequency conversion using nonlinear optics. THz techniques combine pulsed ultrafast laser technology with optoelectronics to generate terahertz radiation with sub-picosecond pulse duration. A typical set-up includes a modelocked solid-state laser that produces pulses with 100 femtosecond pulsewidths. The Coherent Vitesse laser can be used as the femtosecond optical excitation source; alternatively, the Mira Optima 900-F system may be used. The Vitesse offers the advantage of using a hands-off, turnkey solution in a single, compact, rugged package that includes the Verdi diode-pumped solid-state pump laser operating at 532 nm and the modelocked Ti:S oscillator
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Terahertz Radiation Systems: Technologies and Global Markets



BCC estimates the market for terahertz (THz) radiation devices totaled $83.7 million in 2011. This market will grow to $127 million in 2016. The diversification of the THz market is expected to accelerate after 2016, and the total market should reach $570 million by 2021, a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 35% from 2016 to 2021.
THz imaging devices (including the ALMA telescope) is the largest device segment throughout the period under review. It is expected to be nearly $76 million by 2016 and will further reach $248.3 million by the end of 2021, a CAGR of 26.8%.
Astronomy research is currently the largest single application of THz systems. It is estimated to be $70 million in 2011, but this market is expected to fall to $35 million by 2016 and will remain the same until 2021.
SUMMARY FIGURE 1
GLOBAL MARKET FOR TERAHERTZ RADIATION DEVICES AND SYSTEMS, BY TYPE OF SYSTEM, THROUGH 2021
($ MILLIONS)

Source: BCC Research

SUMMARY FIGURE 2
GLOBAL MARKET FOR TERAHERTZ RADIATION DEVICES AND SYSTEMS, BY APPLICATION, THROUGH 2021
($ MILLIONS)

Source: BCC Research
REPORT SCOPE
INTRODUCTION
STUDY BACKGROUND
Over the last hundred years or so, physicists and engineers have progressively learned to exploit new areas of the electromagnetic spectrum. Starting with visible light, they have developed technologies for generating and detecting radiation at both higher and lower frequencies.
Sandwiched between the optical on the short wavelength side and radio on the long wavelength extreme, the terahertz (THz) frequency range (also called the far infrared or submillimeter-wave region) has been the least explored and developed portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The potential usefulness of THz radiation, with its ability to penetrate a wide range of nonconducting materials, has been known for a long time. The first images generated using THz radiation date from as far back as the 1960s.
However, practical applications of THz radiation have been longer in coming, due to the so-called “terahertz gap.” The terahertz gap refers to the technologies needed to generate, channel and detect THz radiation subject to real-world constraints such as size, cost and operating temperatures. Recent developments in THz radiation sources, detectors and waveguides have started to close the terahertz gap, opening up a range of potential applications in transportation security, medical imaging, nondestructive testing and other fields.







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