THz sources and detectors

Carcinotrons

The BWO (backward wave oscillator), also known as a carcinotron, is a vacuum tube used to generate radiofrequency radiation up to terahertz frequencies. The lifespan of a carcinotron is limited by wear on the lamp filament. The spectral width of the line is approximately 20 MHz.

	Frequency range	Power
OV-67	350–540 GHz	48–200 mW
OV-74	506.9–599.7 GHz –684–728.9 GHz	0.5–6 mW
OV-44	840–1,000 GHz	20–100 µW
OV-100	1034–1250 GHz	1–3 µW

VDI AMC sources

Electronic radiation sources in the 70 GHz–1 THz frequency range consist of frequency synthesizers and amplification and multiplication chains (AMC). The radiation polarization is linear.

Single-frequency sources