Towards brain imaging using THz technology

Author

Bakopoulos, P. ; Karanasiou, I. ; Zakynthinos, P. ; Pleros, N. ; Avramopoulos, H. ; Uzunoglu, N.

Author_Institution

Sch. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Nat. Tech. Univ. of Athens, Athens

fYear

2008

fDate

10-12 Sept. 2008

Firstpage

7

Lastpage

10

Abstract

We demonstrate recent advances towards the development of a novel 2-D THz imaging system for brain imaging applications both at macroscopic and at biomolecule level. A frequency synthesized THz source based on difference frequency generation between optical wavelengths is presented, utilizing supercontinuum generation in a highly-nonlinear optical fiber with subsequent spectral carving by means of a fiber Fabry-Perot filter. Experimental results confirm the successful generation of THz radiation in the range of 0.2-2 THz, verifying the enhanced frequency tunability properties of the proposed system. Finally, the roadmap towards capturing functional brain information by exploiting THz imaging technologies is discussed, outlining the unique advantages offered by THz frequencies and their complementarity with existing brain imaging techniques.

Keywords

biomedical optical imaging; brain; microwave photonics; molecular biophysics; neurophysiology; optical fibre filters; optical frequency conversion; supercontinuum generation; terahertz wave imaging; 2-D terahertz imaging system; biomolecule level; brain imaging applications; difference frequency generation; fiber Fabry-Perot filter; frequency 0.2 THz to 2 THz; frequency synthesized terahertz source; frequency tunability; highly-nonlinear optical fiber; optical wavelengths; supercontinuum generation; Biomedical optical imaging; Brain; Fabry-Perot; Fiber nonlinear optics; Frequency synthesizers; Molecular biophysics; Optical fibers; Optical filters; Optical imaging; Supercontinuum generation; Difference Frequency Generation; Fabry-Perot filter; biomolecule “fingerprint”; neural function; supercontinuum generation; terahertz imaging;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Imaging Systems and Techniques, 2008. IST 2008. IEEE International Workshop on

Conference_Location

Crete

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-2496-2

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-2497-9

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IST.2008.4659930

Filename

4659930