New center for THz technology launches at TUE

The Center for Terahertz Science & Technology Eindhoven (CTSTE) is up and running. Operating in TUE’s departments of Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics, the new interdisciplinary research center aims to be a leader in fundamental terahertz (THz) science and technology, as well as a catalyst for collaboration with industry. CTSTE’s THz activities will connect with the Center for Wireless Technology (CWTE) and the Integrated Photonics area on the development of THz technology. With this link, THz science and technology looks to open unforeseen opportunities for the investigation and optimization of materials, processes and systems for sensing, communication, energy conversion and storage, and spectroscopy of (bio)molecular systems.

THz radiation is electromagnetic radiation in the frequency range spanning from 100 GHz to 10 THz. This range, comprised between high-frequency electronics and low-frequency photonics, has remained relatively unexplored for decades due to the lack of efficient sources and compact THz systems. The CTSTE performs research in this exciting field, unveiling new applications and developing THz technology. The center’s ambition is to create a flagship THz laboratory for characterization, tests and measurements, which due to an excessively high price tag, is not currently available in the Netherlands. Through the planned activities, CTSTE hopes to enable access for a much larger group of potential adopters, by developing affordable THz technology.

“Similar to astronomy, where scientists use the full electromagnetic spectrum to investigate the universe, we need the full spectrum to understand and describe matter,” says TUE professor Jaime Gómez Rivas, chair of the Surface Photonics group at Applied Physics. “The THz range has remained widely unexplored so far. CTSTE will open this range and a large number of possibilities for fundamental and applied research.”