Abstract:
Terahertz waves cover photon energies that are orders of magnitude smaller (0.4-40 meV) than the visual spectrum. Therefore, they provide additional information on intrin...View moreMetadata
Abstract:
Terahertz waves cover photon energies that are orders of magnitude smaller (0.4-40 meV) than the visual spectrum. Therefore, they provide additional information on intrinsic condensed-matter properties, making them attractive for imaging applications in the life sciences [1], [2]. Furthermore, they do not have an ionizing effect and are considered biologically innocuous. The ever-present water in organic matter strongly absorbs terahertz waves, and subtle changes in the water concentration can be indicative of disease [3]. However, the waves? long wavelength (3mm-30 nm) severely limits their lateral resolution and creates challenges for high-resolution imaging of biological tissue on the cellular level, e.g., for tumor margin identification during cancer surgery.
Published in: IEEE Microwave Magazine ( Volume: 20, Issue: 9, September 2019)