Medical applications of broadband terahertz pulsed radiation

Advances in semiconductor materials and NIR ultrafast lasers have made it possible to generate and detect broadband electromagnetic pulses with frequencies ranging from 0.1 to over 3 THz (1 THz = 1012 Hz). We present recent work using these THz pulses to image exposed breast cancer and spectroscopic results that indicate differences in the properties of normal and tumourous skin tissue.