Getting warmer -- Leeds research brings terahertz closer to everyday use

A collaboration between the Universities of Leeds and Harvard has turned the heat up on terahertz technology, bringing a handheld terahertz device a step closer to reality.

The Leeds team, led by Professors Edmund Linfield and Giles Davies from the Faculty of Engineering, has recorded the highest operating temperature for a terahertz quantum cascade laser – a technology that scientists believe may unlock the potential of the terahertz frequency range.

Professor Linfield explains: “The potential uses for terahertz technology are huge, but at the moment they are limited to niche applications in, for example, the pharmaceutical industry and astronomy, as the current systems on the market are expensive and physically quite large. The availability of cheap, compact systems would open up a wide range of opportunities in fields including industrial process monitoring, atmospheric science, and medicine.”

Key to exploiting terahertz technology is the production of handheld devices, and one specific type of laser – the quantum cascade laser – will allow the creation of a terahertz device that is small and portable. The problem is, at the moment this type of laser will only function at temperatures of minus 100°C.

So the challenge is to create a terahertz quantum cascade laser which will work at room temperature. While the groups from Leeds and Harvard are still a way off from this, they have succeeded in increasing the laser’s operating temperature by nearly ten degrees, and believe they have the means to improve it yet further.