Terahertz imaging and spectroscopy systems—used for everything from airport security scanners to pharmaceutical quality control—often suffer from weak signals, blurry focus, and finicky alignment that frustrate non-experts. This project will build a suite of adaptive optical components that automatically correct those problems, plus develop new terahertz sources in the hard-to-reach 5–20 terahertz frequency range. If successful, the technology would let a researcher or technician walk up to a terahertz system and get a sharp, optimised signal without manual tweaking—removing a major barrier to wider adoption. The new sources in the 5–20 THz gap would allow scientists to probe fundamental structural dynamics in battery electrolytes and molecular semiconductors, revealing how vibrations and quantum couplings affect material performance. That knowledge could eventually help engineers rationally design better batteries or organic electronics. The project is primarily applied fundamental science: it aims to create practical tools while also enabling deeper understanding of material behaviour. The team will validate the components in biomedical imaging, multidimensional spectroscopy, and at major German synchrotron facilities, working with academic and industrial partners.
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In this project we will develop a suite of adaptive THz optical components that can be deployed to rapidly and autonomously boost the performance of THz spectroscopy, imaging, non-destructive testing and free-space communications systems. Integrated adaptive THz optics will be created that accomplish state-of-the-art wavefront correction, offering novel functionalities for users of THz systems such as auto-alignment, auto-focusing, polarisation control and pulse compression. We will fabricate new active THz sources, particularly in the hard-to-access 5-20 THz ‘gap’, that can be used in conjunction with these adaptive optics tools to enhance spectroscopy and imaging. The new THz components will be produced and validated in partnership with the research and industrial community, with the vision of improving the performance and reliability of a wide range of time- and frequency-domain THz systems. Specifically, the adaptive auto-focus system will allow optimum spatial resolution to be obtained by correcting for the finite aberrations of THz optics, yielding benefits for THz imaging applications that will be proven in an impact study on THz biomedical imaging. Active auto-alignment will optimise THz signals (in spectroscopy and imaging), which are sometimes notoriously weak, removing a major barrier to entry for new users and increasing the productivity of existing expert users. This impact deliverable will be validated at partner labs in industry and academia, as well as at several beamlines at major German THz facilities. In parallel we will develop advanced new THz sources, especially in the challenging 5-20 THz range, that can be combined with the adaptive THz optics to form THz pulses with minimal duration (flat spectral phase) and the highest possible peak electric fields. These advances are critical to efficiently drive higher-order nonlinear processes in technologically important materials ranging from batteries (solid electrolytes) to molecular semiconductors. These new tools will allow the capture of fundamental structural dynamics (anharmonicity of vibrational modes, cross-coupling between different quantum states) that impact the function of these advanced materials, opening new avenues for researchers across physics, chemistry, biology and engineering to rationally optimise material functions. This project will significantly strengthen and support research in THz technologies and systems in the UK via targeted collaboration with German partners. Our ambitious goals will deliver world-leading and impactful research using the combined expertise of three UK teams and four partners in Germany, exploiting synergies between our interdisciplinary mix of backgrounds (in physics, chemistry, electrical engineering, medical physics) and by working across academia, national laboratories and industry. The scientific and technological outcomes will be highlighted in publications, conference talks, outreach events, as well as at a showcase workshop in the final year of the grant. Objectives 1. Develop a versatile and deployable set of adaptive THz optical components that can automatically optimise the alignment, focus and pulse duration of a THz beam. 2. Create advanced sources of pulsed THz radiation in the 5-20THz range to enable new applications in materials science, including battery materials and organic semiconductors. 3. Deliver three substantial impact cases using adaptive THz optics and/or advanced THz sources in improved biomedical imaging, multidimensional THz spectroscopy and at international facilities.
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