Although terahertz(THz)spectroscopy and imaging offer a variety of applications in medical diagnosis of malignant and benign neoplasms,their translation into clinical practice is hampered by the absence of endoscopic ...Although terahertz(THz)spectroscopy and imaging offer a variety of applications in medical diagnosis of malignant and benign neoplasms,their translation into clinical practice is hampered by the absence of endoscopic systems capable of sensing the THz optical properties of the hard-to-access tissues.In this review,we focus on recent attempts to address this challenge.To better highlight the need for THz endoscopes,we start with a brief overview of THz medical applications,with an emphasis on neoplasms diagnosis.We then consider the two existing principles of THz endoscopy.The first uses the fiber-coupled THz photoconductive antennas(PCAs)for the THz generation and detection in close proximity to a hard-to-access object,where optical fibers are applied to flexibly deliver the laser pump and probe beams to the THz emitter and detector.The key technology of the second approach is the THz optical fibers capable of delivering the THz waves to an analyte and then detecting the reflected and back-propagated THz signal.Despite this approach still lacking the efficient commercially available THz fiber optics,most recent developments pave the way to solve these problems.In this review,several notable examples of THz endoscopic systems based on different guiding mechanisms,material platform,and manufacturing strategies are discussed.展开更多
基金supported by the Russian Science Foundation,Project#25-79-30006,while the work of D.S.P.on Sec.3,was supported by the state assignment of the NRC“Kurchatov Institute”。
文摘Although terahertz(THz)spectroscopy and imaging offer a variety of applications in medical diagnosis of malignant and benign neoplasms,their translation into clinical practice is hampered by the absence of endoscopic systems capable of sensing the THz optical properties of the hard-to-access tissues.In this review,we focus on recent attempts to address this challenge.To better highlight the need for THz endoscopes,we start with a brief overview of THz medical applications,with an emphasis on neoplasms diagnosis.We then consider the two existing principles of THz endoscopy.The first uses the fiber-coupled THz photoconductive antennas(PCAs)for the THz generation and detection in close proximity to a hard-to-access object,where optical fibers are applied to flexibly deliver the laser pump and probe beams to the THz emitter and detector.The key technology of the second approach is the THz optical fibers capable of delivering the THz waves to an analyte and then detecting the reflected and back-propagated THz signal.Despite this approach still lacking the efficient commercially available THz fiber optics,most recent developments pave the way to solve these problems.In this review,several notable examples of THz endoscopic systems based on different guiding mechanisms,material platform,and manufacturing strategies are discussed.
