Room Temperature Semiconductor of T-Rays

Fallen Andy noted a Physorg story that says "Engineers and applied physicists from Harvard University have demonstrated the first room-temperature electrically-pumped semiconductor source of coherent Terahertz (THz) radiation, also known as T-rays. The breakthrough in laser technology, based upon commercially available nanotechnology, has the potential to become a standard Terahertz source to support applications ranging from security screening to chemical sensing." "What did you do at the office today, honey?" "Oh, I just demonstrated the first room-temperature electrically-pumped semiconductor source of coherent Terahertz radiation. How was your day, dear?"

Re:T-rays have imaging and security applications

[jeffmeden]

So riddle me this: Why are Terahertz waves limited to "between 300 gigahertz (3x1011 Hz) and 3 terahertz (3x1012 Hz)" according to the article? Wouldn't it make sense for the scale to start somewhere around 1 THz and run to about 999 THz, where it would then run into Petahertz? Just curious, TIA!

Re:T-rays for security, medicine

[JustinOpinion]

In addition to the applications you mentioned (medicine and security), a more mundane application is in manufacturing and quality control. For instance, with these scanners you can automate the quality and consistency checks on many manufactured goods, including foods. For instance, the scans could visualize the internal dispersion of nuts in a candy bar, or the consistency of bread. It could also be very useful for detecting anomalous matter in food (e.g. pick out metal or a band-aid that accidentally found its way into the food), or detecting insects and larvae inside fruits and vegetables.

The scans are totally benign and non-ionizing, so there's no health risks associated with scanning food.