Source: NJBiz

    Structured Materials Industries, Inc. (SMI) announced today that it has received Phase I STTR funding from the Air Force to develop an Efficient, Tunable THz Source.

    Future battlefield systems will require new levels of performance from optical components. In particular, there is a strong need for efficient, high-power terahertz (THz) sources and detectors. The lack of sufficiently powerful, compact sources and detectors in the 0.3 to 30 THz range has so far drastically limited development in defense imaging, homeland security and medical imaging applications, among others. In this STTR program, we propose to develop and demonstrate a novel tunable THz source with unprecedented efficiency. The new technology is based on an engineered material currently under development at Structured Materials Industries (SMI) and the University of Wisconsin (UW). Detailed modeling indicates that by using a photonic crystalline structure, a broadly tunable source with significant power conversion efficiency can be achieved.

    Successful completion of the program will enable a breakthrough in the production of efficient, powerful, compact THz sources as well as detectors for applications ranging from military and security uses such as explosives and hidden weapon detection to communications, spectroscopy and others.