Fyzikální ústav Akademie věd ČR

Terahertz (THz) radiation lies in the frequency range between the infrared and microwaves, i.e. between 100 GHz and 10 THz. These waves are able to excite soft polar phonons in solids, vibrations of larger chains in biomolecules, to induce plasma oscillations of free charge carriers with concentrations of ~10¹⁴–10¹⁸ cm^-3 and to interact with carriers localized in nanoparticles. Due to the lack of bright sources and sensitive detectors the THz spectroscopic applications about 20 years ago concerned mainly the astronomy and analytical science. Recent technological innovations in photonics and nanotechnology have lead to a dramatic increase in the interest of the scientific and industrial community in the THz research and applications.