Abstract
After more than three decades of niche applications in the space sciences area, the field of terahertz (THz) technology is entering a new era of biomedical sensing and imaging. The past few years have seen an unprecedented expansion of terahertz ray technology in medical science, spanning applications as diverse as tumor recognition, dental cavities detection, and ligand–analyte sensing interaction. High cost, large sample volume, low sensitivity, lack of massive parallelism, and water absorption are still major challenges facing THz label-free sensing and imaging. The primary goal of current research in this field is to improve the THz sensor dynamic ranges, achieve faster data acquisition, and reduce water vapor absorption. In this chapter, THz biosensing capabilities, progress, and limitations are highlighted and discussed.
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Abbreviations
- ATR-FTIR:
-
Attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared
- AFM:
-
Atomic force microscopy
- QWP:
-
Quarter wave plate
- SPR:
-
Surface plasma resonance
- WHO:
-
World Health Organization
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Menikh, A. (2010). Terahertz-Biosensing Technology: Progress, Limitations, and Future Outlook. In: Zourob, M., Lakhtakia, A. (eds) Optical Guided-wave Chemical and Biosensors II. Springer Series on Chemical Sensors and Biosensors, vol 8. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02827-4_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02827-4_11
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