The development of a low cost, fibre coupled terahertz spectrometer

在本提案中，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尺度内将此类仪器的成本和尺寸减少10倍。我们将开发的IP是从一种新材料（铁掺杂砷化铟镓，Fe-InGaAs）产生和检测太赫兹辐射，该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拨款（PORTRAIT; EP/D50225X/1）开发。我们通过最近的GB专利申请（GB 0912512.1）保护了这种材料在太赫兹光谱中的使用，现在我们正在寻求将我们的成果商业化，以推动太赫兹光谱系统在广泛的应用领域的大规模应用，包括（但不限于）制药、安全、过程监控和医疗部门。在每个领域，（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的关键因素迄今为止限制了商业应用。我们的新材料可以使用廉价和高度便携的（1.55微米）光纤激光器实现高效的太赫兹发射。我们已经证明，使用我们的材料可以构建光纤耦合太赫兹发射器和探测器，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。基于我们最近获得专利的新材料，我们现在寻求创建优化的太赫兹发射器和探测器组件原型，这将适用于许多领域的太赫兹频率范围传感的广泛应用。太赫兹时域光谱（THz- tds）系统具有广泛的适用性，特别是对多晶粉末的测量，多晶粉末在太赫兹频率范围内具有典型的特征指纹光谱。因此，太赫兹光谱和成像系统提供了非接触表征和监测各种材料的可能性，其中包括药品、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，因为太赫兹技术已经在那里得到了应用。太赫兹- tds被证明在制药工业中具有重要意义，因为它能够区分多态形式，并且能够穿透片剂涂层和包装。此外，它为其他振动光谱技术，特别是拉曼光谱技术提供了补充信息，因为不同的选择规则决定了观察到的正常模式。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南明确地将过程分析技术，如THz-TDS，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.