Highly Directional Terahertz Laser Demonstrated

eldavojohn writes "A new paper published this week in the journal Nature Materials announces a successful demonstration of highly directional terahertz semiconductor lasers. You might not think it's a big deal that some Harvard and University of Leeds researchers (funded partially by the US Air Force) figured out how to better direct lasers; but this means the ability to see what's in someone's pockets and clothing, at a distance of possibly hundreds of meters, or farther. The big benefit is that they are lower in energy than X-Rays and are less invasive, since they cannot pass through water or metal. Coming soon to an airport near you or buzzing around on board a drone in civilian airspace?"

impenetrable barrier of protection

[gamecrusader]

time to go bact to the middle ages bring out the suits of armor walking around on one of those would hide u from these lasers

Re:No kidding.

[Surt]

Their trophy girlfriends tend to be. I mean, there's no avoiding scanning some of the wrong sex unless you're bi, so assuming you're a horny male heterosexual screener, your odds are best with the first class passengers.

Co-author checking in

[Mkoms]

Hey guys, I'm one of the co-authors of that Nature Materials paper. Please let me know if you have any technical questions about the work. I'm not an expert on terahertz semiconductor lasers or their applications (I was really only involved in the surface patterning of the facet with the spoof plasmonic structures), but I'll do my best to answer any questions you might have.