TERAHERTZ rays, or T-rays, are unique. Squeezed into the electromagnetic spectrum between infrared radiation and microwaves, they can pass through walls, clothes and a few millimetres of skin 鈥� without the damaging effects of X-rays. These talents raise the prospect of creating scanners that could allow police to 鈥渟ee鈥� into besieged buildings, airport staff to check for concealed weapons and doctors to detect the extent of skin cancers (New 杏吧原创, 30 August, p 11).
Terahertz images of concealed guns and explosives are remarkable for their clarity, as TV viewers in the UK had the chance to see this week in the first programme in the series New 杏吧原创 Reports (see page 11 for viewing details). Shown on Discovery Channel, the series is New 杏吧原创鈥檚 first foray into television, giving readers another way to keep abreast of news and current events in science.
To date, T-waves have been held back by a lack of cheap, compact ways to generate and detect them. But advances in solid-state technology are creating a raft of new sources and sensors. T-rays may not yet be as well known as X-rays, but it鈥檚 only a matter of time before they are.
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