Optics Innovations
An Industrial THz Killer Application?
Terahertz technology is mature enough for large-volume sensing applications. However, Dook van Mechelen says there are a few hurdles preventing its industrial debut.
Quality control of a robot-painted car body, shown here at the ABB paint lab in China, is a promising industrial THz application.
Ever since the first laser-induced generation of terahertz (THz) radiation in the 1990s, scientists have enthusiastically embraced THz technology in academic studies. THz spectroscopy has a number of advantages that point to abundant industrial applications as well, in areas such quality control, security and biomedical imaging. Those advantages include detectability at room temperature; a nonionizing nature; applicability to many materials; and, through time-domain techniques, the ability to provide depth sensitivity, nondestructively.
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