Terahertz (THz) technology has become popular worldwide as a new approach to detecting biomolecules because the vibrational and rotational energy levels of many biomolecules fall in the THz band and because the THz wave has the characteristics of low electronic energy, which will not damage the samples to be measured. Many biomolecules need to maintain their biological activity in liquid environment. However, as a polar molecule, water has a strong absorption of THz wave, which is mainly because the vibration frequency of hydrogen bond in aqueous solution is within the THz frequency range. Therefore, the best solution is to reduce the action distance between the aqueous solution and THz wave and control it within 100 μm. Microfluidic chips can meet such requirements. Therefore, the combination of THz technology and microfluidic technology can study the dynamic characteristics of biomolecules in an aqueous solution. The microfluidic chip was fabricated using ZEONOR 1420Rs. The THz transmittance of the material can exceed 95%. The depth of the microchannel in the microfluidic chip is 50 μm. In addition, the chip has the characteristics of good airtightness, portability, convenient disassembling, and reusability. Seventeen kinds of electrolytes were tested with the chip. The results show that the THz spectral intensity of electrolyte composed of different anions and cations, so the spectral characteristics of other electrolyte solutions can be obtained according to the spectral information of these detected ions.
Terahertz spectroscopic characteristics are related to the large amplitude vibration of molecules and their interaction, so it can be used for molecular detection. Sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite are two very important salts in people's lives. Sodium nitrate is usually used as quick-acting fertilizer in acidic soil, but excessive use will cause certain pollution to the environment. If sodium nitrate is heated, it becomes very stable sodium nitrite, which is usually added to food as a preservative and colorant, but excessive consumption of nitrite can lead to food poisoning and even death. Therefore, it is necessary to detect sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite. Based on THz-TDS system, the spectral characteristics of sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite in 0.1-1 THz band were studied. Polyethylene, sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite were mixed in proportion of 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 1:4 and 1:5, respectively. The mixture was evenly grinded and stirred, and then pressed. The prepared samples were tested in THz-TDS system, and the time-domain spectra of the samples with different proportions were obtained. The terahertz frequency spectrum and absorption spectra of the two samples at different ratios were obtained by Fourier transform. After comparing spectra of the two samples, it is found that they have their own absorption peaks, and their peak positions are obviously different. Therefore, it is very important to study these two substances by terahertz technology.
The light field includes the direction information and location information. Light field imaging can capture the whole light field by single exposure. The four-dimensional light field function model represented by two-plane parameter, which is proposed by Levoy, is adopted in the light field. Acquisition of light field is based on the microlens array, camera array and the mask. We calculate the dates of light-field to synthetize light field image. The processing techniques of light field data include technology of refocusing rendering, technology of synthetic aperture and technology of microscopic imaging. Introducing the technology of light field imaging into THz, the efficiency of 3D imaging is higher than that of conventional THz 3D imaging technology. The advantages compared with visible light field imaging include large depth of field, wide dynamic range and true three-dimensional. It has broad application prospects.
The terahertz monolithic integrated device is to integrate the pumping area of the terahertz generation, the detection area of the terahertz receiving and the metal waveguide of terahertz transmission on the same substrate. The terahertz generation and detection device use a photoconductive antenna structure,the metal waveguide use a microstrip line structure. The evanescent terahertz-bandwidth electric field extending above the terahertz transmission line interacts with, and is modified by, overlaid dielectric samples, thus enabling the characteristic vibrational absorption resonances in the sample to be probed. In this device structure, since the semiconductor substrate of the photoconductive antenna is located between the strip conductor and the dielectric layer of the microstrip line, and the semiconductor substrate cannot grow on the dielectric layer directly. So how to prepare the semiconductor substrate of the photoconductive antenna and how to bond the semiconductor substrate to the dielectric layer of the microstrip line is a key step in the terahertz monolithic integrated device. In order to solve this critical problem, the epitaxial wafer structure of the two semiconductor substrates is given and transferred to the desired substrate by two methods, respectively.
Since many vibrations and rotational levels of biomolecules fall within the THz band, THz spectroscopy can be used to identify biological samples. In addition, most biomolecules need to maintain their biological activity in a liquid environment, but water as polar substance has strong absorption to the THz wave. Thus, it is difficult to detect the sample information in aqueous solution using THz wave. In order to prevent the information of biological samples were masked in the solution, many research methods were used to explore how to reduce the water absorption of terahertz. In this paper, we have developed a real-time chemical methodology through transmission Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) system. The material of Zeonor 1020r is used as substrate and cover plate, and PDMS as channel interlayer. The transmission of the empty microfluidic chip is more than 80% in the range of 0.2-2.6 THz by THz-TDS system. Then, experiments were carried out using chips, which were filled with different volumes of 1, 2- propanediol, and it has been proved that the microfluidic chip could reduce the water absorption of terahertz. Finally, in order to further explore the reduction of terahertz to water absorption, we inject different concentrations of electrolyte to the chip. The results show that with the addition of different electrolytes, terahertz transmission line has evident changes. It can be taken into account that the electrolyte has different effects about the hydrogen bonds in the aqueous solution. Some of them can promote water molecules clusters, while others destroy them. Based on the basis of microfluidic chip, the discovery of this phenomenon can provide a way that reduces water absorption of terahertz. This work has laid a solid foundation for the subsequent study in reducing water absorption of terahertz.
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