The development of a low cost, fibre coupled terahertz spectrometer

在这项提案中，我们寻求后续资金，以支持廉价的高度便携式太赫兹（THz）频率时域光谱仪的技术和商业开发，该光谱仪将在五年的时间范围内将此类仪器的成本和尺寸降低10倍以上。我们将利用的IP是从一种新材料（掺铁砷化铟镓，Fe-InGaAs）中产生和检测太赫兹辐射，这种新材料显示出与相对便宜的电信波长激光器集成的巨大潜力，我们使用最近的EPSRC资助（PORTRAIT; EP/D50225 X/1）开发了这种激光器。我们已经通过最近的GB专利申请（GB 0912512.1）保护了这种材料在THz光谱学中的使用，现在寻求将我们的结果商业化，以推动THz光谱系统在广泛的应用领域的广泛应用，包括（但不限于）制药，安全，过程监控和医疗部门。在每一个领域，学术界和工业研发实验室都对太赫兹光谱的潜在影响进行了广泛的演示，但价格和缺乏便携性等关键因素迄今为止限制了商业应用。我们的新材料允许使用廉价且高度便携的（1.55微米）光纤激光器进行有效的THz发射。我们已经证明，使用我们的材料构建光纤耦合THz发射器和探测器是可能的，与现有技术相比，这种材料具有更大的灵活性和更高的性能。目前，我们正在寻求基于我们最近获得专利的新材料来制造优化的原型THz发射器和探测器组件，这将适用于THz频率范围传感在许多领域的广泛应用。太赫兹时域光谱（THz-TDS）系统具有广泛的适用性，特别是对于多晶粉末的测量，这些粉末通常在THz频率范围内具有特征指纹光谱。因此，太赫兹光谱和成像系统提供了非接触式表征和监测各种材料的可能性，其中包括药物、滥用药物和爆炸物等。在后续融资期间，我们的目标是制药市场，因为那里已经使用了太赫兹技术。THz-TDS被证明在制药工业中具有重要性，这是由于其区分多晶型形式的能力以及穿透片剂包衣和包装的能力。此外，它提供了补充信息，其他振动光谱技术，特别是拉曼光谱，由于不同的选择规则管理的正常模式观察。美国食品和药物管理局关于药物开发、制造和质量保证的指导意见明确将THz-TDS等过程分析技术作为未来十年药物制造创新的核心。

In this proposal, we seek Follow-on funding to support the technical and commercial development of a cheap highly portable terahertz (THz) frequency time-domain spectrometer that will, within a five year timescale, reduce both the cost and size of such instrumentation by a factor of >10. The IP which we will exploit is the generation and detection of terahertz radiation from a new material (iron-doped indium gallium arsenide, Fe-InGaAs) which is showing tremendous potential for integration with relatively cheap telecoms wavelength lasers, which we developed using a recent EPSRC grant (PORTRAIT; EP/D50225X/1). We have protected use of this material for THz spectroscopy by a recent GB patent application (GB 0912512.1), and now seek to commercialize our results in order to push the wide-scale uptake of THz spectroscopy systems across a broad range of application areas, which include (but are not restricted to) the pharmaceutical, security, process monitoring, and medical sectors. In each area, there have been extensive demonstrations (by both academia and industrial R&D laboratories) of the potential impact of THz spectroscopy, but the keys factors of price and lack of portability have so far limited commercial uptake. Our new material allows efficient THz emission using cheap and highly portable (1.55 micron) fibre lasers. We have shown that it is possible to construct fibre-coupled THz emitters and detectors using our material which offer greater flexibility and enhanced performance compared to existing technology. We now seek to create optimized prototype THz emitters and detector components, based on our recently patented new material, which will be appropriate for widespread applications of THz frequency range sensing across many sectors.Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) systems have wide-scale applicability, especially for the measurement of polycrystalline powders, which typically have characteristic fingerprint spectra in the THz frequency range. THz spectroscopy and imaging systems thus offer the possibility of non-contact characterization and monitoring of a wide range of materials, which include pharmaceutical drugs, drugs-of-abuse, and explosives, inter alia. We are targeting the pharmaceutical market during the Follow-on funding period, owing to the established use of THz technology there. THz-TDS is proven to have importance in the pharmaceutical industry owing to its ability to distinguish polymorphic forms, and the ability to penetrate tablet coatings and packaging. Furthermore, it provides complementary information to other vibrational spectroscopic techniques, particularly Raman spectroscopy, owing to the different selection rules governing which normal modes are observed. The US Food and Drug Administration guidance for pharmaceutical development, manufacturing, and quality assurance has explicitly placed process analytical technologies, such as THz-TDS, as central to innovation in pharmaceutical manufacture over the coming decade.