Identifying patient invariant parameters for diagnosis using terahertz sensing

太赫兹（1012赫兹，太赫兹）脉冲成像是一种高分辨率的新技术，最近才成为一种潜在的新的临床医学成像工具。这是一种完全非破坏性和非电离成像方式，因为产生辐射的脉冲平均功率小至100 nW。产生的辐射被聚焦到感兴趣的样品上，然后进行相干检测。点测量类似于超声扫描。不同层的反射用来确定不同深度的结构。太赫兹光对氢键非常敏感。通过对时域数据进行傅里叶变换，可以得到有用的光谱信息。潜在的应用范围从安全成像到医疗诊断，但是分析和仪器需要针对所调查的每个应用进行定制。太赫兹光可以使用光导天线产生和检测。太赫兹系统的可用频率范围取决于光导器件以及光学对准等其他因素。我们已经开发了一种手持式太赫兹探测器，已经在考文垂大学医院的第一次临床试验中使用。该项目的目的是收集和分析患者和志愿者的数据，以开发皮肤状况的分类算法。例如，使用太赫兹成像技术来检测皮肤癌的早期阶段，或者检测皮肤表面下尚未可见的肿瘤的横向范围是可能的。该项目将为学生提供光学、编码、信号处理和机器学习方面的经验。

Terahertz (1012 Hz, THz) pulsed imaging is a new technique with high resolution and has only emerged recently as a potential new clinical tool for medical imaging. It is a totally non-destructive and non-ionising imaging modality as the average power of the pulse for producing the radiation is as small as 100 nW. The radiation produced is focused onto the sample of interest and then detected coherently. A point measurement is analogous to an ultrasound A-scan. Reflections off different layers are used to determine the structure at various depths. THz light is very sensitive to hydrogen bonds. By Fourier transforming the time-domain data, useful spectroscopic information can also be revealed. Potential applications range from security imaging to medical diagnosis, but the analysis and instrumentation needs to be tailored for each application investigated. THz light can be generated and detected using photoconductive antennas. The useable frequency range of a THz system depends on the photoconductive devices as well as other factors such as optical alignment.We have developed a handheld THz probe that has been used in the first clinical trials of their kind at the University hospital in Coventry. The aim of this project is to take and analyse patient and volunteer data a view to developing classification algorithms for skin conditions. For example, it may be possible to use THz imaging to detect early stages of skin cancer, or the lateral extent of tumours that are beneath the skin's surface, and not yet visible. This project will give the student experience in Optics, coding, signal processing and machine learning.