http://www.lakeshore.com/products/THz-System/Pages/Update061813.aspx
Since our last news posting back in January, a lot of good progress has been made on the THz Materials Characterization project. Most significantly, all 3 of our collaboration sites are now actively using their prototype systems and anticipating some interesting results:
- The Ohio State University (Center for Emergent Materials) continues its studies of complex oxide thin films. Understanding and validating the mechanisms behind the THz response of these materials is a key focus.
- University of Dayton’s Research Institute (IDCAST) is measuring Lactose and the amino acid tyrosine, doing temperature dependent studies of these molecular solids. The THz system’s high spectral resolution and cryogenic temperatures are hoped to uncover features in the spectra of these materials.
- The Air Force Research Lab (Sensors Directorate) is conducting temperature dependent studies of bulk and thin film ZnO, a transparent semiconductor which may be useful in a variety of applications including transparent upfront displays, THz sensors, efficient solar cells, etc. Recent THz measurement results are in good agreement with more conventional characterization methods carried out on these samples.
- And in Lake Shore’s own lab, we are currently using temperature and magnetic field to tune the plasmon resonance in the semiconductor InSb. Plasmonic responses in a metal or semiconductor can be used as a THz detectors (say for imaging) as well as chemical and biological sensors. With lithographically defined plasmonic antennas, THz frequency fields can be confined below the diffraction limit; someday this could be used to study micro and nanoscale materials at THz frequencies.
Based on the feedback from these users and others, we already have made a number of design improvements to simplify sample exchange and improve measurement range and precision. The high resolution continuous-wave (CW) THz spectrometer is proving to be the right choice for this application. The system software is well along in development, offering complete management of experimental parameters and logging of results through an intuitive and full-featured interface.
We have been actively discussing this forthcoming THz system with many other interested researchers at a variety of conferences this year. Since our official launch at the American Physical Society Conference in March, we have presented the system to attendees at the Materials Research Society Spring Meeting, SPIE Defense Security Sensing, the Nanotech Conference & Expo, and the International Microwave Symposium. Response continues to be positive, with many people just beginning to envision the new horizons that such an affordable and usable system could open up.
Our hard-working applications scientist, Dr. David Daughton, has spoken to numerous live and online audiences on the topic of CW-THz materials characterization, including papers presented at the APS conference and the American Chemical Society, as well as talks on Laboratorytalk and Materials Today.
Our press announcement in April about Lake Shore’s selection for anAir Force STTR grant in support of this project also received widespread attention.
As a reminder, the THz materials characterization system uses non-destructive, non-contact CW terahertz energy to measure important phenomena in emerging electronic, magnetic, and chemical materials such as:
Carrier scattering time in semiconductors (important to development of high speed electronics, THz sensors, and solar photovoltaics)
Vibrational resonances in molecular solids (important to chemical identification and research in organic electronic and magnetic materials)
Antiferromagnetic resonances (important to spin-based computing)
THz-frequency characterization is of particular interest to researchers because a number of important electronic and magnetic phenomena align with THz energy levels, and THz wavelengths correspond to the feature sizes of development-grade electronic materials. THz characterization has historically been available only to a few well-funded and optics-savvy institutions. Lake Shore’s announcement of a commercially-viable turnkey THz materials characterization system is capturing the attention those in pursuit of future high-speed computing, storage, imaging and communications applications. Production systems are expected to be available in early 2014.
We have been actively discussing this forthcoming THz system with many other interested researchers at a variety of conferences this year. Since our official launch at the American Physical Society Conference in March, we have presented the system to attendees at the Materials Research Society Spring Meeting, SPIE Defense Security Sensing, the Nanotech Conference & Expo, and the International Microwave Symposium. Response continues to be positive, with many people just beginning to envision the new horizons that such an affordable and usable system could open up.
Our hard-working applications scientist, Dr. David Daughton, has spoken to numerous live and online audiences on the topic of CW-THz materials characterization, including papers presented at the APS conference and the American Chemical Society, as well as talks on Laboratorytalk and Materials Today.
Our press announcement in April about Lake Shore’s selection for anAir Force STTR grant in support of this project also received widespread attention.
As a reminder, the THz materials characterization system uses non-destructive, non-contact CW terahertz energy to measure important phenomena in emerging electronic, magnetic, and chemical materials such as:
Carrier scattering time in semiconductors (important to development of high speed electronics, THz sensors, and solar photovoltaics)
Vibrational resonances in molecular solids (important to chemical identification and research in organic electronic and magnetic materials)
Antiferromagnetic resonances (important to spin-based computing)
THz-frequency characterization is of particular interest to researchers because a number of important electronic and magnetic phenomena align with THz energy levels, and THz wavelengths correspond to the feature sizes of development-grade electronic materials. THz characterization has historically been available only to a few well-funded and optics-savvy institutions. Lake Shore’s announcement of a commercially-viable turnkey THz materials characterization system is capturing the attention those in pursuit of future high-speed computing, storage, imaging and communications applications. Production systems are expected to be available in early 2014.
No comments:
Post a Comment