TeraEye is a multidisciplinary, international scientific venture co-financed by the European Union under the 6th Framework Program. It was attended by 21 companies and institutions from 8 European countries, each of whom was involved in another area of expertise in the field of physics, technology and computer science.
The main goal of the project is to construct a completely passive material recognition system, based on the detection of terahertz wave electromagnetic radiation (THz) and with the use of the latest achievements of nanotechnology. Devices of this type would be widely used in places where safety issues are particularly important and at the same time difficult to achieve due to high congestion and rapid movement of people (eg, airports, train stations, stadiums, etc.).
Optics
A very important part of the system being created within TeraEye is the optical system that transmits the THz radiation from the observed objects to the detector placed in the cryostat. Its design was one of the main goals of the WP3 Task Force ("Cryocooling, Optics and Cold Electronics"), which included, among others. ORTEH sp. Z o.o. Thanks to our experience in the design, implementation and application of diffractive structures and the use of optical information processing algorithms, we have been accepted into the TeraEye project. During the project Orteh company have developed and presented our own concept of optical system, based on diffraction optics.
The main lens is made of Teflon, it is supposed to transfer the image into the cryostat inside the detector plane. Due to the specificity of cryostat operation, it was necessary to achieve low heat losses on the lens.
