Chips tuned to receive a new type of radiation will enable cell phone owners to look beyond obstacles.
Experts from the University of Texas at Dallas, led by electrical engineering professor O. Kenneth, have developed a new microchip that will allow mobile phone users to see through walls, paper, plastic, wood and other obstacles. The technology is based on terahertz radiation, the frequency range of which is located between infrared and ultra-high-frequency waves.
“We have used a previously unused spectrum of electromagnetic radiation to find applications in medicine and in everyday life,” the professor said. "Terahertz radiation has an inexhaustible potential."
Like radio waves, terahertz radiation can penetrate obstacles while reflecting off objects behind them. However, until recently, it was possible to construct an image based on the analysis of terahertz waves only by using several lenses, which significantly increased the dimensions and weight of the device. Researchers have solved this problem by using CMOS chips commonly used in consumer electronics such as televisions or personal computers.
"The use of CMOS chips for terahertz radiation means that in the near future such circuits can be built into a mobile phone, and every user will have a device in their pocket that allows them to see through obstacles," said Professor Kenneth.
So far, experts have focused on overcoming obstacles less than 10 centimeters thick. The new technology, as scientists promise, will allow ordinary users to apply it in a variety of areas of life - from searching for nails stuck in a wall to identifying documents. In medicine, safer terahertz radiation can replace X-rays.
And the other day, other developers presented a scanner that also uses terahertz radiation. It allows you to check the contents of parcels without opening them.
German experts from the Fraunhofer Institute have developed a scanner that can contactlessly analyze the content of letters and postal parcels, which will allow them to check for drugs and explosives. The recently launched T-Cognition 1.0 device will be presented at the Munich Trade Fair April 17-19.
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The device uses terahertz electromagnetic radiation, the frequency spectrum of which lies between the infrared and ultra-high frequency ranges. “You put a suspicious letter or parcel in a special box, and using terahertz radiation, the device determines if there is explosives. This ensures confidentiality, and if nothing is found, the correspondence can be sent to its destination in full safety,”explained Joachim Jonuscheit, one of the developers of the scanner.
In connection with the increasing incidence of postal terrorism, the introduction of a new device will be especially relevant. Terahertz waves penetrate well such dielectrics as plastic and paper, and the large penetration depth and low degree of scattering allow spectral analysis of unknown substances. The constantly updated database of the device contains spectral "fingerprints" of hazardous substances, with which the scan results are checked. This will allow you to quickly check parcels that have aroused suspicion among postal workers without opening them.
The developers hope that these technologies will also find application in the pharmaceutical and chemical industries. “Until now, drug manufacturers had to take special samples for analysis to find out if the right substance was in a particular mixture, and chemists - to understand if the substance had reached the required degree of crystallization,” said Yonusheit. A device using terahertz radiation will greatly simplify the analysis of substances and their mixtures.
