The Gigahertz as we knew it may be long gone, but there are still scientists researching the possibility of handheld devices that work at 1 THz and won't burn your hands. Edmund Linfield and Giles Davies from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Leeds said that a collaboration with Harvard University has brought them closer to that goal.
Linfield claims that his team has created the highest operating temperature for a terahertz quantum cascade laser. That may sound strange, but makes sense if you consider the fact that these lasers only work at temperatures of minus 100&grad; Celsius. A room-temperature laser is still science fiction, but the scientists said they have found a way to increase "the laser's operating temperature by nearly ten degrees".
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