Terahertz spectroscopy: Its future role in medical diagnoses

Over the past two decades, terahertz radiation has received a lot of interest due to advances in emission and detection technologies in the late 1980s and early 1990s which allowed the construction of coherent source/detection regimes. This paper focuses on reviewing the use of terahertz radiation in the investigation and understanding of biological systems and medical diagnosis. In particular, research on terahertz spectroscopy of biomolecules, from amino acids to proteins is presented, and examples of potential medical applications are discussed. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.