„T-SKIN” project aims at development of complex solution for fast (real-time) scanning of human skin in order to detect cancer. Designed device will utilize multipurpose diffractive modules and commercial sources and detectors for THz radiation.
Depending on application, diffractive modules consist of a single diffractive structure or some number of them. Each structure, however, can be designed with different methods and be composed of a few basic diffractive elements.
T-SKIN project will allow to manufacture a diffractive optical system being able to illuminate and image human skin (for project purposes skin phantom) as well as focus the THz radiation into a high energy density spot. Next structure will redirect the scattered radiation to the detector. The device will utilize commercially available sources and detectors (or matrices of detectors) and complement them with dedicated diffractive elements, thus filling an existing market niche.
The non-ionizing Terahertz (THz) radiation will be used in the T-SKIN project, which ensures safe and noninvasive skin diagnosis, allowing for differentiation between healthy and cancerous tissues. The research on detection of the skin cancer has been conducted for broad spectral range of electromagnetic radiation (from ultraviolet, thorough the visible, close and far infrared to terahertz). Comparison with data from histopathological examination showed that the best results have been obtained with terahertz radiation. Precise knowledge of the shape and size of the tumor will allow a surgeon to remove it with sufficient reserve, but without unnecessary mutilation, when excess of healthy tissues is removed. Designed system should work in reflective configuration, in order to provide real-time medical examination for the patients. THz radiation is much closer to microwaves than visible light, thus the mechanism of imaging of this radiation can be very different from the analogous one for the visible spectral range (light scattering). The result of this project will be the design of multipurpose diffractive elements, forming THz radiation both for incident and reflected beams, supplemented with additional knowledge about interaction of this radiation with investigated samples.