Closing the terahertz gap with compact, low-cost imagers

To achieve a high level of autonomous driving, vehicles currently rely on a combination of cameras and radars to navigate the complexities of the road. Speaking in terms of physics, they utilize two separate parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Radars operate in frequency bands around 24 and 77 gigahertz, while cameras are sensitive to frequencies between 400 and 750 terahertz. This implies that there’s a very big portion of the electromagnetic spectrum currently not used by these systems.

Imagine that vehicles would also be able to use the vast spectrum in the THz range. Such advanced sensor fusion would generate a wealth of data, making autonomous systems much more intelligent. Terahertz imaging could bring similar benefits to other application domains, such as medical imaging, security and food safety.