Pharmaceutical, biological and industrial applications of terahert spectroscopy and imaging for IRMMW-THz 2013

The terahertz range of the electromagnetic spectrum falls between the more familiar microwave and infrared regions. Advances in pulsed terahertz technology over the past decade have led to the development of commercial instrumentation for spectroscopy and imaging. Terahertz analysis is non-destructive for materials as well as living tissue and its high depth of penetration offers many advantages over other techniques. Terahertz spectroscopy is well suited for the identification of crystalline polymorphs and for real time monitoring of solid form changes in-situ. Terahertz imaging is ideal for measuring the thicknesses and properties of multilayered structures such as tablet and paint coatings. Terahertz techniques for measuring bulk physical properties (e.g. electric field permittivity) also have the potential to determine the efficacy of drugs and to detect disease states in cell cultures. In this poster, we present the background of terahertz analysis and instrumentation and provide examples of several recent applications from our laboratory.