This week, we’re hanging out in the terahertz area of the light spectrum. Sandwiched between infrared light and microwaves, terahertz has been the long-forgotten cousin of the light family. But no longer! At the Australian Synchrotron, intense and focused beams of terahertz light are used to test new materials for carbon capture, clean energy applications, and the next generation of computing.

Travel to Australia for reporting on this story was supported by the New Zealand Synchrotron Group Ltd.

Guests:

• Nicholas Page, PhD candidate at the University of Otago
• Kiri Van Koughnet, PhD candidate at Robinson Research Institute, Victoria University of Wellington
• Kane Hill, physics master's student at the University of Auckland
• Dr Freddy Lyzwa, the Photon Factory, University of Auckland
• Dr Dominique Appadoo, senior beamline scientist at the Australian Synchrotron

Learn more:

• Read the article that accompanies this episode, Using light to study materials.
• Listen to a previous OCW episode about the future of long-term data storage.
• The Dodd-Walls Centre for photonics and quantum technologies got a boost of funding in 2023 for its quantum technologies programme of research.
• Learn more about MOFs in this Nine to Noon interview.

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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details