Research Blogging – Bringing Blogging to the Engineering and Scientific Community

There are 100 million bloggers out there of which I am one. Blogging opens up the web to the human voice which is often lost in the barrage of press releases that hit the news world. Science and engineering are driven by peer-review. Now comes Research Blogging which is a website for submitting and reviewing peer-reviewed information on scientific and engineering topics. The media comes into play with hype and sometimes hysteria – remember how CERN’s Large Hadron Collider was going to create a black hole that would consume the earth? The Research Blogging site takes back the science and engineering world communications and places it back into peer-review mode.


Best regards,
Hall T.

International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves – Terahertz for Life

I recently attended the IRMMW-THz 2008 conference at CalTech in which they theme of the conference is “Terahertz for Life” which represents the expansion of Terahertz research from optics and communications to include big physics and life science. Terahertz waves are now applied to chemistry, biophysics and medicine, as well as astrophysics and astronomy.

Terahertz extends from frequencies of 0.3THz (a wavelength of 1 mm) to 10 THz (30 micrometers) which offer unique imaging properties. The short wavelengths of terahertz rays provide enough spatial resolution for 3D micro imaging. Also, they don’t have physiological damaging effects as X-rays.

There are several ways to generate terahertz waves. Lasers are the preferred method. Laser light can control at a high level the spectral and temporal elements.

In the exhibit area were several companies with systems for controlling terahertz signals for commercial and research applications. There was Loeffler-Technology which performs mm-wave imaging with terahertz signals for package inspection and security exploration. The demo unit showed a terahertz signal that could measure the both sides of a box with a single scan and thus providing a near 3D image of it. It could also detect hidden weapons such as a gun hidden underneath clothing. The product is called SynViewScan 300.

Another group called Toptica Photonics which makes tunable diode lasers. Their research shows that the optical beat frequency of two slightly detuned CW lasers lies in the terahertz region. Through the accurate frequency control of two seed lasers, they can produce a narrow-band tunable terahertz beat frequency.

Emcore makes fiber optic equipment and uses terahertz in their systems for spectroscopy measurements.

Best regards,
Hall T.

International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves – Terahertz for Life

I recently attended the IRMMW-THz 2008 conference at CalTech in which they theme of the conference is “Terahertz for Life” which represents the expansion of Terahertz research from optics and communications to include big physics and life science. Terahertz waves are now applied to chemistry, biophysics and medicine, as well as astrophysics and astronomy.

Terahertz extends from frequencies of 0.3THz (a wavelength of 1 mm) to 10 THz (30 micrometers) which offer unique imaging properties. The short wavelengths of terahertz rays provide enough spatial resolution for 3D micro imaging. Also, they don’t have physiological damaging effects as X-rays.

There are several ways to generate terahertz waves. Lasers are the preferred method. Laser light can control at a high level the spectral and temporal elements.

In the exhibit area were several companies with systems for controlling terahertz signals for commercial and research applications. There was Loeffler-Technology which performs mm-wave imaging with terahertz signals for package inspection and security exploration. The demo unit showed a terahertz signal that could measure the both sides of a box with a single scan and thus providing a near 3D image of it. It could also detect hidden weapons such as a gun hidden underneath clothing. The product is called SynViewScan 300.

Another group called Toptica Photonics which makes tunable diode lasers. Their research shows that the optical beat frequency of two slightly detuned CW lasers lies in the terahertz region. Through the accurate frequency control of two seed lasers, they can produce a narrow-band tunable terahertz beat frequency.

Emcore makes fiber optic equipment and uses terahertz in their systems for spectroscopy measurements.

Best regards,
Hall T.

LabVIEW for Big Physics Applications

At the Texas Petawatt laser dedication I met with John Porter from Sandia which has the Z-machine which generates 290 Terrawatts of power. It’s the world’s largest X-ray generation machine. It has achieved nearly 2M degrees in temperature which is the point in which nuclear fusion takes place. LabVIEW is used for various control systems such as the spectroscope.

Petawatt developments use LabVIEW to a great extent for control and monitoring of the system. In this blog the author used LabVIEW to automated the SDG II of his system. GSI in Germany used LabVIEW to automate a variety of applications and went so far as to develop an Object-Oriented Toolbox for those seeking OOP capabilities. You can find out more about the toolbox at this site.

Best regards,
Hall T.

National Ignition Facility – LabVIEW Saving 400 Man-hours

In last week’s dedication of the Texas Petawatt laser, I met with Edward Moses of the National Ignition Facility which has commissioned 184 of the 192 beam lines. The purpose of the project is to understand fusion energy in a way that can lead to lower cost energy sources for the future. Also, nuclear testing and astronomical phenomenon can be studied with it. It’s the size of three football fields and sits in a ten-story building at Lawrence Livermore National Labs. It’ll focus two million joules of ultraviolet energy.

LabVIEW is used in a number of applications such as damage assessment testing. In this paper the author describes the collection of test data from several sites within the NIF and then performing signal cleaning algorithms with LabVIEW to automate the process. For 80% of the cases, automation takes care of the work saving 400 man-hours 0ver a three year period.

Best regards,
Hall T.