Terahertz Radiation Systems: Technologies And Global Markets

BCC Research
November 1, 2008
169 Pages - SKU: WA2022002
License type:
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INTRODUCTION

STUDY BACKGROUND

Over the last 100 years, physicists and engineers have progressively learned to exploit new areas of the electromagnetic spectrum. Starting with visible light, they have developed technologies for generating and detecting radiation at both higher and lower frequencies.

Sandwiched between the optical on the short wavelength side and radio on the long wavelength extreme, the terahertz (THz) frequency range (also called the far infrared or sub-millimeter-wave region) has been the least explored and developed portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The potential usefulness of THz radiation, with its ability to penetrate a wide range of non-conducting materials, has been known for a long time. The first images generated using THz radiation date from as far back as the 1960s.

However, practical applications of THz radiation have been longer in coming, due to the so-called “terahertz gap.” The terahertz gap refers to the technologies needed to generate, channel, and detect THz radiation subject to real-world constraints such as size, cost, and operating temperatures. Recent developments in THz ration sources, detectors, and waveguides have started to close the terahertz gap, opening up a range of potential applications in transportation security, medical imaging, non-destructive testing, and other fields.

STUDY GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The overall goals of this report include assessing the technological process that has been made towards bridging the terahertz gap and assessing the commercial potential of THz radiation devices over the next 5 to 10 years. Specific objectives include:
  • Identifying the THz applications that are most likely to achieve significant commercial sales by 2018.
  • Assessing any remaining barriers to their commercialization, and develop quantitative estimates of potential sales.
  • Analyzing promising THz applications in the context of user needs and competing technologies.
  • Developing quantitative market projections through 2018.
  • Identifying companies that are well positioned to profit from these trends.
INTENDED AUDIENCE

This report is intended especially for marketing executives, entrepreneurs, investors, venture capitalists and other readers with a need to know where the emerging market for THz radiation devices is headed over the next 10 years. Although the report is organized around specific technologies, it is largely non-technical in nature and coverage. That is, it is concerned less with theory and jargon than with what works, how much of the latter the market is likely to purchase, and at what price.

The report has not been written specifically for scientists and technologists. However, the report’s findings concerning the market for their work, including the availability of government and corporate research funding for different technologies and applications should interest them as well.


 

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