Compact and cost-effective system for terahertz time-domain spectroscopy

该联盟项目是渥太华大学Ménard博士的超高速太赫兹(THz)小组与世界领先的光学元件开发和商业化公司OZ Optics Limited的合作项目。这两个合作伙伴有着成功的合作历史，这些合作之前导致了关键的技术发现，以改进太赫兹产生和探测技术。该项目依赖于这些进展来展示基于经济高效的超快近红外激光器的太赫兹时域光谱(THz-TDS)配置。这种激光器取代了商业系统中通常使用的笨重而昂贵的光源。我们的目标是展示一种紧凑且经济实惠的THz-TDS配置，可访问0.2至6 THz的大光谱带宽，并具有高检测灵敏度来表征材料。该项目的最后部分将侧重于医疗诊断应用的设备优化，特别是检测病毒和细菌。拟议的合作项目将建立一个世界级的培训环境，支持太赫兹光子学领域的创新，太赫兹光子学是一种快速增长的成像和表征光学技术。该项目将培训本科生、研究生和一名博士后，他们将与工业研究团队和OZ Optics的顶级管理人员互动，将新的科学想法结合到制造工作原型上。最后，在招聘和培训研究和技术团队时，将积极考虑性别均衡和GBA。

This Alliance project is a collaboration between the Ultrafast Terahertz (THz) Group of Dr. Ménard at the University of Ottawa and OZ Optics Limited, a world-leading company in the development and commercialization of optical components. The partners have a successful history of collaboration that previously resulted in key technical findings to improve THz generation and detection techniques. This project relies on these advances to demonstrate a THz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) configuration based on a cost-effective ultrafast near-infrared laser. This laser replaces bulky and costly optical sources usually employed in commercial systems. Our goal is to demonstrate a compact and cost-effective THz-TDS configuration accessing a large spectral bandwidth from 0.2 to 6 THz and featuring a high detection sensitivity to characterize materials. The last part of the project will focus on device optimization towards medical diagnostic applications, notably to detect viruses and bacteria. The proposed collaborative project will establish a world-class training environment enabling innovation in the field of THz photonics, a fast growing imaging and characterization optical technology. The project will train undergraduates, graduate students, and one postdoc who will interact with an industrial research team and top-level managers from OZ Optics, to combine new scientific ideas towards the fabrication of a working prototype. Finally, gender balanced and GBA+ will be actively considered during recruitment and training of the research and technical teams.