New Imager Microchip

Researchers from the University of Texas at Dallas and Oklahoma State University have developed an innovative terahertz imager microchip that allows devices to detect and create images through obstacles such as fog, smoke, dust and snow.

The microchip emits radiation beams in the terahertz range of the electromagnetic spectrum (430 GHz) from pixels no larger than a grain of sand. The rays pass through fog, dust, and other obstacles that optical light cannot penetrate, and bounce off objects back to the microchip where the pixels receive the signal to form an image. The terahertz imager contains a microchip and a reflector, which increases viewing distance and quality, and reduces power consumption, without the use of external lenses.

Another breakthrough result from innovations that break the core active gain limits of CMOS is that this imaging technology consumes 100 times less power than phased arrays currently under investigation for the same imaging applications.
https://www.utexas.edu/