Scientists have discovered a new effect in two-dimensional conductive systems that promises improved performance of terahertz detectors.
A recent physics discovery in two-dimensional conductive systems enables a new type of terahertz detector. Terahertz frequencies, which lie between microwave and infrared on the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation, could enable faster, safer, and more effective imaging technologies, as well as much higher speed wireless telecommunications. A lack of effective real-world devices has hampered these developments, but this new breakthrough brings us one step closer to these advanced technologies.
[...] If the lack of usable devices were solved, terahertz radiation could have many useful applications in security, materials science, communications, and medicine. For example, terahertz waves allow the imaging of cancerous tissue that couldn't be seen with the naked eye. They can be employed in new generations of safe and fast airport scanners that make it possible to distinguish medicines from illegal drugs and explosives, and they could be used to enable even faster wireless communications beyond the state-of-the-art.
So, what is the recent discovery about? "We were developing a new type of terahertz detector," says Dr. Wladislaw Michailow, Junior Research Fellow at Trinity College Cambridge, "but when measuring its performance, it turned out that it showed a much stronger signal than should be theoretically expected. So we came up with a new explanation."
This explanation, as the scientists say, lies in the way how light interacts with matter. At high frequencies, matter absorbs light in the form of single particles – photons. This interpretation, first proposed by Einstein, formed the foundation of quantum mechanics and was able to explain the photoelectric effect. This quantum photoexcitation is how light is detected by cameras in our smartphones; it is also what generates electricity from light in solar cells.
Disclaimer: use of terahertz medical scanners may produce the smell of sizzling bacon.
Journal Reference:
"An in-plane photoelectric effect in two-dimensional electron systems for terahertz detection" by Wladislaw Michailow, Peter Spencer, Nikita W. Almond, Stephen J. Kindness, Robert Wallis, Thomas A. Mitchell, Riccardo Degl'Innocenti, Sergey A. Mikhailov, Harvey E. Beere and David A. Ritchie, 15 April 2022, Science Advances.
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abi8398/)
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 02 2022, @05:36AM (6 children)
What is "terahertz technology?"
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday June 02 2022, @05:52AM (3 children)
Presumably the use of frequencies between 300 GHz and 3 THz [wikipedia.org], between far infrared and microwaves.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 02 2022, @06:10AM (2 children)
And that makes it special how?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday June 02 2022, @06:19AM (1 child)
It could be used for very high data rates over short distances. For example, cable replacement and VR headsets in the same room as a desktop. You can find more applications in TFA.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 02 2022, @11:49AM
I guess boiling exploding heads would be the downside.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 02 2022, @11:08AM
You need to be at Level 4 to be able to understand those two bog werds.
Not being able to use Google puts you on Level 0.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 02 2022, @10:30PM
serial symbole transfer, since that symbole (not ones and zeros) is all a slow cpu (5Ghz?) can process?
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by Barenflimski on Thursday June 02 2022, @06:01AM
I love that I'll be able to transfer the entire human DNA chain in 4 seconds. I love that I can find a cancer cell in a billion.
The thought that they can scan my bag and find a random chemical to throw me in jail for, is terrible.
These folks that want life to be simple, easy, with no hurt feelings, with no variation, want to force it on us, and then enforce it with no-entry or jail, really hurt my feelings.
(Score: 1, Troll) by Mojibake Tengu on Thursday June 02 2022, @06:38AM (2 children)
This technology is fun because it enables ranged weapons robotic aiming exactly at heart or other circulatory features of humans. Or horses.
The edge of 太玄 cannot be defined, for it is beyond every aspect of design
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Thursday June 02 2022, @07:31AM (1 child)
I guess it's time to replace that tinfoil hat with a tinfoil full body suit.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by Mojibake Tengu on Thursday June 02 2022, @08:56AM
Unless you can cover neck carotid artery, full body suit will not hide you.
I know what I am talking about, I wrote real-time analyzer software for heart ventriculography radiation probe in Z80 assembler some 40 years ago, as a high school student collaborating with a research institute.
Those days medical engineers could not write software for themselves.
The edge of 太玄 cannot be defined, for it is beyond every aspect of design
(Score: 1) by anubi on Thursday June 02 2022, @12:38PM (3 children)
Visible light is in the 400 to 800 THz ( red to blue ) range.
https://www.cs.tufts.edu/t/colloquia/current/?event=1034 [tufts.edu]
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 02 2022, @01:12PM (1 child)
who not use infrared and be done with it?
remote controls already do it.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by HiThere on Thursday June 02 2022, @01:48PM
Different wavelengths penetrate different things differently. Terahertz is a different set of wavelengths than infrared, so it has different penetration capabilities. It will go right through some things that block infrared, and will be find others opaque that infrared penetrates just fine. It's almost like Xrays vs. sonogram...you can turn either into images, but they show different things.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 02 2022, @04:21PM
If they came out with a 500 THz package scanner, I'd consider that "old school" tech.