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Excellent Science INNOVATION
A spin-based terahertz detector
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UN Sustainable Development Goals(SDG)
This innovation contributes to the following SDG(s)
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 9
Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation

The UN explains: "Investments in infrastructure – transport, irrigation, energy and information and communication technology – are crucial to achieving sustainable development and empowering communities in many countries. It has long been recognized that growth in productivity and incomes, and improvements in health and education outcomes require investment in infrastructure."

The EU-funded Research Project
This innovation was developed under the Horizon 2020 project s-NEBULA with an end date of 31/12/2023
  • Read more about this project on CORDIS
Description of Project s-NEBULA
s-NEBULA explores and develops a revolutionary approach to TeraHertz (THz) technology, both for generation and detection of THz radiation, initiating the new field of spin-based TeraHertz (s-THz) technology, a game changer for the future of THz field. The ambition of s-NEBULA is to provide a platform of room-temperature innovative spin-based THz building blocks, arising from novel combinations of magnetism and optics. s-NEBULA will provide cutting-edge solutions to solve bottleneck scientific issues in the THz field motivated by clear needs in judiciously chosen target applications. These include variable-baseline broadband pulsed emitters and voltage-controlled compact detectors for non-destructive testing (NDT), intrinsically-modulated CW emitters for THz communication and polarization-programmable emitters for ellipsometry. We will demonstrate innovative schemes for THz emission using spin-orbit interfaces targeting optically driven s-THz pulsed emitters with bandwidth > 20 THz, with enormous potential for NDT applications. For THz communication, data traffic densities of several Tbps/km2 are predicted for 5G networks, but not a single THz data link beyond2 THz s-NEBULA will develop high-power tunable CW emitters working beyond 5 THz. Besides, we will investigate a disruptive approach combining antiferromagnetic materials with direct voltage rectification effects, targeting a tunable & compact detector, key element for on-chip THz systems of tomorrow. Furthermore, combining THz radiation with magnetism enables an extra lever to control the emitted wave; intrinsic modulation/demodulation becomes possible, as well as polarization control for innovative schemes in ellipsometry. All these approaches are not possible with existing THz technologies. The consortium gathers leading European expertise in significantly diverse areas (optics, magnetism, materials preparation, advanced theory, industrial integration, THz metrology) that will enable multi-disciplinary work.

Innnovation Radar's analysis of this innovation is based on data collected on 16/09/2022.
The unique id of this innovation in the European Commission's IT systems is: 20575