Focus on Teraphysics

My Note: One of the more interesting companies I have come across in the last 4 years following THz on this blog is Teraphysics. You might note the video at the top of the blog, which peaked my interest. After posting it last month Teraphysics removed it from the web. I wrote the company, and got them to publically share the video again, so I am also reposting it. The following are some small parts of the company webpage. I encourage you to take the time to check out the full webpage. I hope to get some exclusive comments and insights in the near future.

http://www.teraphysics.com/


Teraphysics' family of high powered terahertz sources and amplifiers will enable the most significant technology advancements of our time. The family of devices will be:

• World's first and only commercially viable hand held T-Ray source.
• 600 times smaller, and 1000 times more power than any tunable source regardless of size.
• Built using patented nano-diamond fabrication process

The Teraphysics Team is listed on the webpage as:

Dr. Gerald T. Mearini, Ph.D.

President, Founder

Dr. Mearini received a Bachelor of Science degree from The Ohio State University in 1986 and a Master of Science in 1988 from Case Western Reserve University. In 1991 Dr. Mearini received a PhD. in experimental physics from Case Western Reserve University specializing in thin film deposition, mechanical properties of thin films and applied surface physics under Professor R.W. Hoffman.
From 1991 - 95, Mearini pioneered very high secondary electron emission and field emission from chemical vapor deposited (CVD) diamond films for space electronic applications as a National Research Council fellow in the Space Communications Division of NASA Lewis Research Center. This led to national recognition in the "diamond" community and the founding of General Vacuum in 1994 (now GENVAC Aerospace) and ultimately Teraphysics Corporation in 2004

Dr. James A. Dayton, Jr., Ph.D.

Chief Technology Officer

Dr. James A. Dayton, Jr. has been a pioneer in the application of efficiency enhancement, computer aided design, and micro fabrication technology to the development of vacuum electron devices operating at mm and sub mm wavelengths. Dr. Dayton received the BS in EE from Illinois Institute of Technology in 1959, the MS in EE in from the University of Iowa in 1960 and the PhD in EE from the University of Illinois in 1965. He is presently the Chief Technology Officer and co-owner of Teraphysics Corp. He also contributes his time pro bono to various IEEE activities, and serves as a consultant to a variety of clients

Lou Fisi

Chairman, CEO

Mr. Fisi received his BSBA from the University of Akron in 1957 and received his executive MBA from the University of Indiana.
Following two years of service in the military, Mr. Fisi was employed by the international accounting firm currently known as Ernst & Young ultimately serving as an audit client executive until 1976. He was then employed with the Smithers Company, an international industrial manufacturer, as CFO and then COO from 1976 to 1985. In 1985 Mr. Fisi was a founding member of Advanced Lighting Technologies, Inc. (ADLT), and served as its CFO, executive vice president, and as a director from 1985 until his retirement in 2000. ADLT became a public company in 1995 and raised over $275 million in the public markets through 2000.

The First Commercially Viable THz Source

1. Sufficient Power (10’s mW) to provide

a. Spectroscopy from a safe standoff distance

b. Real time video rate imaging from a distance

c. Significant penetration depths

2. Compact (<3 lbs, < 5 inches3)
3. Broad, continuously tunable frequency range
Applications mentioned have not been exploited commercially -they have only been demonstrated in laboratory environments. This has become known as the THz gap. But Why does this gap exist? Because there are no potential commercially viable sources in existence except the Teraphysics devices we present here. What is a commercially viable source? A source that can meet the requirements for the applications we outlined, or a source providing 10s of mW’s of average power that is compact, and continuously tunable over a broad range of frequencies.

 Survey of Existing THz Sources

Existing THz sources are used primarily for research purposes due to such factors as maturity, cost, size, efficiency and low output power at room temperature. Thus, none of these competing sources have the potential to be commercially viable except the Teraphysics’ suite of sources.

Source	Average Output Power (mW)	Size/Mass (inches3/lbs)	Why It’s Not Commercially Viable
Teraphysics’ Devices	26-325	< 5/ <2.5	Commercially Viable
Conventional BWOs	< 30	~36/ 75	Large/Heavy/ Unreliable
Quantum Cascade Lasers (QCLs)	1-250	~60 /75	Large/Cryo-Cooling Required
Ultra-Short Pulse Laser (Photoconductive Emission)	0.000001	~60/75	Large/Heavy/Low Power
IR-Pumped Gas Lasers	1-150	~60/75	Large/Heavy/Not Continuously Tunable
Photomixing	0.001	~48/50	Large/Heavy/Low Power
Frequency Multipliers	~1	~15/20	Low Power

Partners

We strongly believe in collaboration and have established a strategic relationship with TeraView Limited (UK).

TeraView is the world's first company devoted to the application of Terahertz light for spectroscopy and imaging. A spin out from Toshiba and the University of Cambridge in 2001, TeraView has been developing terahertz light technology across a number of areas and applications and now has equipment in over twenty countries.