Troy, N.Y. — A $1 Million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation of Los Angeles will establish the W.M. Keck Laboratory for Terahertz Science within a new Center for Terahertz Research at Rensselaer.

The laboratory will expand the Institute’s pioneering work in terahertz microscopy, medical imaging, and research to identify terrorist threats. The laboratory and the Center will be led by Xi-Cheng Zhang, Rensselaer’s J. Erik Jonsson Distinguished Professor of Science. Zhang is a world leader in the field of terahertz (THz or T-ray) research. The terahertz frequency range, which lies between microwave and infrared frequencies, presents the next frontier in imaging science and technology.

“Under the leadership of Dr. Xi-Cheng Zhang, the terahertz research team at Rensselaer has become the world leader in the development and application of terahertz technology,” said President Shirley Ann Jackson. “The support of the W.M. Keck Foundation will now allow the Rensselaer team to do what no other research group has done before: to create and detect terahertz waves at extreme levels, in the nonlinear range. The potential gains to be made by this research will form the next frontier in scientific discovery.”

Terahertz sensing and imaging systems that see through walls have the potential to examine and identify asbestos or radiation contamination, search for landmines or plastic explosives, or help police locate hostages, terrorists, and weapons during a standoff. Terahertz-based tools will be valuable in many other fields, including biomedical imaging, agriculture, forensic science, and food safety.

The funding from Keck will allow the purchase of advanced instrumentation for the terahertz laboratory including a three-phase Terawatt laser system, which amplifies the terahertz ray to produce a high-powered terahertz laser. The Terawatt system will be coupled with an infrared spectrometer, optical tables, and a vacuum deposition system.

Microwaves, infrared radiation, visible light, and X-rays are all forms of electromagnetic waves that differ in wavelength. Terahertz rays or “T-Rays” oscillate on the scale of one trillion cycles per second.
Terahertz waves have the potential to create pictures and transmit information in the same way that visible light can create a photograph, radio waves can transmit sound, and X-rays can “see” shapes within the human body. But “T-rays” paint a picture in more intricate detail, and pose few safety risks to biological tissue, making the technology beneficial to many aspects of biomedicine and for earlier detection of disease.

Scientists expect that terahertz science will have a profound impact biotechnology. In biotechnology, T-ray spectroscopy of biological molecules could provide new tools to study protein folding or a monolayer of DNA. For example, the Rensselaer team has successfully characterized the process by which a protein changes its shape when subjected to chemical or physical forces such as heat, and protein-protein interaction at terahertz frequency.

“Working together, the investigators at the Center for Terahertz Research have made remarkable accomplishments, with breakthroughs in microscopy, medical imaging, and new research to identify terrorist threats,” said Joseph Flaherty, dean of the School of Science.

In addition to Zhang, the center has three other faculty members: Michael Shur, the Patricia W. and C. Sheldon Roberts’48 Professor of Solid State Electronics at Rensselaer; Roland Kersting, assistant professor of physics and a member of Rensselaer’s information technology faculty; and assistant professor Ingrid Wilke.

The sensing techniques developed by Zhang and his research team are now being used worldwide. The research team is one of the few groups in the world that is successfully building demonstration prototypes of terahertz — speed electronic devices. More than 100 research groups around the world use terahertz sensing in physics, electrical engineering, material science, and chemistry. More than 350 scientists and engineers from government and industry laboratories, universities, clinics, and medical schools have visited Zhang’s labs, and he has helped scientists from 17 countries learn to use these electro-optic terahertz sensors.

About the Keck Foundation
The W.M. Keck Foundation is one of the nation’s largest philanthropic organizations. Established in 1954 by the late William Myron Keck, founder of The Superior Oil Company, the Foundation’s grantmaking is focused primarily on the areas of medical research, science, and engineering. The Foundation also maintains a program for liberal arts colleges and a Southern California Grant Program that provides support in the areas of civic and community services, health care and hospitals, precollegiate education, and the arts.

For more information about Terahertz research at Rensselaer, visit www.rpi.edu/~zhangxc/.

Contact: Megan Galbraith
Phone: (518) 276-6531
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