Compact MMIC Terahertz Sources in the 0.1 - 1 THz Range

该项目解决了太赫兹科技的瓶颈，其中制造室温、连续波、紧凑、可调和强大的光源(如果可能的话，低成本)是主要挑战。太赫兹(THz)辐射的频率范围在电磁光谱中介于微波和红外光之间，这为一种具有广泛应用范围的新成像和光谱技术打开了可能性，从医疗诊断(没有X射线等电离辐射造成的损害)、工业质量控制或安全检查工具。不幸的是，太赫兹技术面临着一些重大的困难，需要研究来克服。明亮的太赫兹源很难制造，因此需要付出相当大的努力来改进我们目前拥有的东西。光源必须从一侧的电子学和光学系统的限制获得，导致缺乏有效和实用的辐射源。因此，该项目致力于开发紧凑型高性能固态源。采用共振隧道二极管(RTD)实现太赫兹源的潜力是众所周知的，实现这一任务的电路设计挑战(不想要的振荡和低输出功率)也是众所周知的。这项拨款提案旨在通过探索和利用允许在单个振荡器中使用多个(和最佳大小)RTD的新电路概念来开发这一潜力。我们的目标是使用传统的微波单片集成电路(MMIC)技术来制作RTD源。通过本项目的总结，我们的目标是演示一个简单的单像素THz成像系统。这些发展应该为英国工业采用这项技术铺平道路。

This project addresses the bottleneck of Terahertz Science and Technology, where the fabrication of room temperature, continuous wave, compact, tunable and powerful sources (at low cost, if possible) is the prime challenge. Terahertz (THz) radiation, whose frequency range lies between microwaves and infrared light in the electromagnetic spectrum, opens the possibility for a new imaging and spectroscopic technology with a broad range of applications, from medical diagnostic (without the damage produced by ionising radiation such as X-rays), industrial quality control or security-screening tools. Unfortunately terahertz technology suffers from some significant difficulties that requires research to overcome. Bright terahertz sources are difficult to make, so considerable effort is needed to improve what we have at the moment. The sources must be obtained at the limits of electronics from one side and optical systems from the other, resulting in a lack of efficient and practical radiation sources. This project is therefore dedicated to developing a compact high performance solid-state source.The potential for employing resonant tunnelling diodes (RTDs) to realise THz sources is well known and so are the circuit design challenges (unwanted oscillations and low output power) to achieve this task. This grant proposal seeks to develop this potential, by exploring and exploiting novel circuit concepts that allow the use of multiple (and optimally sized) RTDs in single oscillators. We aim to fabricate the RTD sources using the conventional microwave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC) technology. By the conclusion of this project, we aim to demonstrate a simple single pixel THz imaging system. These developments should pave the way for adoption of this technology by British industry.