Springer Sensing with Terahertz Radiation: 85 (Springer Series in Optical Sciences, 85)

The purpose of this book is two-fold. First, the various different methods of accessing the THz range are discussed, with a view to convince the reader that there have been qualitative and significant improvements over older, more conventional techniques. The text makes it clear that these improvements enable practical "real-world" applications of THz technology, in a manner which would not have been possible before. Second, the demonstrations and feasibility tests described serve as compelling evidence of the utility of such devices. Due to the unique characteristics of THz radiation and its interaction with materials, these devices have substantial advantages over other competing technologies in a number of different areas. From the Back Cover Sensing with Terahertz Radiation reviews the state of the art in the generation, manipulation, and detection of electromagnetic radiation in the terahertz range. Recent years have seen a tremendous growth in research and development efforts in this spectral regime, spanning roughly from 0.3 THz to 10 THz. This has been spurred in part by several startling advances, involving non-linear optical materials, ultrafast optical and electronic techniques, and spectroscopic methods. As a result, there have been qualitative and significant improvements in the generation and detection of THz radiation. These have enabled a number of "real world" applications of THz technologies, in a manner which would not have been practical only a few years ago. A number of demonstrations and feasibility tests are discussed, which serve as compelling evidence of the utility of such techniques. Owing to the unique characteristics of THz radiation and its interactions with materials, these methods can have substantial advantages over other more conventional technologies. This text includes contributions on topics including time-domain spectroscopy based on both photoconductive and electro-optic sampling, photomixing, and all-electronic THz generation. advantages over other, competing technologies in a number of different areas.