T-rays given focus

Scientists have announced a breakthrough in the harnessing of ‘T-rays’ - electromagnetic terahertz waves - which could dramatically improve the detection of objects as varied as biological cell abnormalities and explosives.

Electromagnetic T-rays could help study of disease and explosives

“This is a significant development that would allow unprecedented accuracy in studying tiny objects and sensing chemicals using T-rays,” said Dr Stefan Maier, of the University of Bath’s Department of Physics, who lead the research.

Terahertz radiation, the frequency of which is around one thousand billion cycles a second, bridges the gap between the microwave and infrared parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Materials interact with radiation at T-ray frequencies in different ways than with radiation in other parts of the spectrum. This makes T-rays potentially important in detecting and analysing chemicals.

The researchers found that although ordinary metal wire would not guide T-rays very well, if a series of tiny grooves was cut into the wire, it would do so much more effectively.

“In this way, the T-rays can be focused to the tip of the wire and guided into confined spaces or used to detect small objects, with important implications for disease detection or finding explosive that are hidden,” said Maier.

Their findings are set out in a letter published in the current Physical Review Letters.