Spire wins funding for terahertz laser research
Spire Corporation, based in Bedford, MA, is developing GaAs layers for miniature terahertz lasers under a $99,000 Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) project.
Spire s terahertz source will be a quantum cascade laser - only the size of a pencil tip according to the company - containing hundreds of nanometer-thick GaAs-based layers.
The project, involving collaboration with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, aims to use a new design to produce epitaxial structures cost-effectively through Spire s wholly owned subsidiary, Bandwidth Semiconductor. If successful, it could lead to a phase II grant of $500,000.
Terahertz radiation sources could have a broad range of applications, including biological agent detection, as well as DNA structure identification and a number of medical diagnostic techniques.
Spire s terahertz device emits between the infrared and microwave regions, where radiation is strongly absorbed by water and tissue, but is transmitted by most other, non-metal materials, making it possible to penetrate clothing or packaging materials, and to detect hidden weapons, explosives, or biological materials.
Terahertz radiation has already revealed hidden tooth decay and early skin cancers. It can also identify complex DNA and other molecular structures by looking at their unique terahertz spectral signatures. Since terahertz radiation has even lower energy than visible light, human safety issues are not expected to be of concern.
Spire s core businesses are the development, manufacture and marketing of solar electric module manufacturing equipment and systems and providing biomedical processing services and devices.
