In first place, Terahertz (THz) is a unit of frequency, meaning 1012 Hz, or 1 trillion oscillations or cycles per second. This is equivalent to 1000 GHz, or 1 million MHz.

In second place, especially in science speak as well as throughout this site, the word “Terahertz” refers to a certain part of the spectrum of electromagnetic waves whose frequency is in the order of - surprise! - 1 THz.

Unlike other fractions of the electromagnetic spectrum, there is no other common name for this frequency band, like “ultraviolet” or “microwaves”, since the THz band is not easily accessible, and there have been only few applications until about the 1990ies. Things have changes since then, and this is something I will write about on these pages.

For an introduction, you may want to look at this introductory article (pdf, 430 kB) that appeared some time ago in the “Bulletin SEV”, where SEV is the Swiss Electrotechnical Society. It’s in german, but it has a couple of nice pictures if you don’t understand it.

Stay tuned for more information coming soon, hopefully. Remember that this site has been started only a short time ago (well, not sooo short anymore), just give me some time to make this complete.