| In recent years in several research laboratories compact solid state lasers can be fabricated, which emit coherent radiation at frequencies as low 1 THz. This opens the possibility to consider highly sensitive detection at frequencies between 1 and 5 THz, a frequency range not accessible to astronomers from the ground and not yet covered by the Herschel Space Telescope. It also demands new nano-devices based on superconductors and/or semiconductors, which are sufficiently non-linear to provide efficient signal conversion. |
