Advanced Photonix Announces First Terahertz System for Quality, Process Control
Ann Arbor-based Advanced Photonix Inc. (NYSE Amex: API) announced Monday that its terahertz system, the T-Ray 4000, will be deployed on a factory line for quality and process control at a major manufacturer of extruded web products.
This ground breaking advancement in terahertz deployment is the first in a number of industrial applications under development to help manufacturers improve their process control while using a non-contact sensor that has no radioactive sources or no ionizing radiation.
API is the first company to commercialize terahertz technology and deploy it to the factory floor through the use of its patented fiber coupled transmitters and receivers. This enabling technology gives the end user the flexibility to mount the sensors on a scanning frame without contacting or impeding the product, and to collect more information and data to control the manufacturing process for tighter tolerances, saving material and increasing quality control.
"We are excited to have been selected over the nuclear gauge technology by a leading manufacturer to assist them in improving their manufacturing process and saving material," said API CEO Richard Kurtz. "This is one of many markets we are working with globally to take the terahertz technology to the factory floor. The fact that we are able to deploy this non-destructive technology on the factory line makes it of great value to manufacturers, enabling them to effectively manage quality control during the production process."
The T-Ray 4000 produces ultra short pulses of terahertz light that allow a variety of unique and novel applications including simultaneously determining thicknesses of multiple layers, density of individual layers and looking for voids or de-laminations between multiple layers. The excellent signal to noise ratio of the T-Ray platform allows even thick samples to be scanned effectively.
Terahertz radiation, little understood and hard to generate before the 1990s, occupies a space on the electromagnetic spectrum between microwaves and infrared light. It has potential applications in a wide variety of disciplines, from materials testing to medical diagnostics security checkpoints, because it can see through clothing and even the top layers of human flesh — but it doesn't pack the damaging radioactive punch of X-rays.
API designs, builds and sells optoelectronic products, high-speed optical receivers and terahertz instrumentation for telecom, homeland security, military, medical and industrial markets. More at www.advancedphotonix.com.
