Terahertz User Group

User Groups

The Terahertz (THz) User Group of the British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing has been established to promote and advance techniques utilising THz technologies to inspect components, materials and structures, and to recommend standardisation and best practice as appropriate.

THz technologies refers to all types of instrumentation utilising electromagnetic signal at frequencies between 100 GHz and 10 THz.

The following high-level objectives have been identified as immediate priorities for the group:

To understand and describe/document end-user requirements for applications that may be solved by THz methods. (Note: each type of application will have different requirements.)
To manage industrial end-user understanding of the capabilities and limitations of THz technologies, and which technologies suit different applications.
To identify and document barriers to the introduction of THz technologies in NDT.
To road-map different THz technologies, including terminology definitions, best practice guides, and current state of maturity in each case.
To assess technology readiness level and commercial readiness of different THz technologies.

Sub-objectives (methods of progress towards the above objectives):

Special issues of journals, workshops, seminars, etc.
Review of state of the art in THz inspection.
Production of a guide of agreed terminology.
Recommendation of best practice.
Recommendation of procedures for component and system specification.
Recommendation on best format for data presentation and recording.
Development of a list of the recommended practices against which organisations (i.e. equipment manufacturers) may show compliance.

The following additional objectives have also been identified:

To provide guidance on electromagnetic simulation methods.
To build, or reference, a library of THz dielectric properties of materials, available for general use.
To highlight the advantages and disadvantages of THz inspection, and to provide guidance on when it is worth using in place of other techniques.
To capture industry-based studies in order to showcase the range of possible techniques.
To provide best practice for storage of the data (how to deal with data volumes, server, archive, etc.)

The full terms of reference for the THz User Group can be downloaded here.

To view or download a copy of the 'Terahertz technologies for NDT and CM' leaflet, click here.