太赫兹辐射生物效应研究进展与展望

Progress and prospective in biological effects of terahertz radiation

21世纪以来,太赫兹(terahertz,THz)技术的应用日益广泛,其成像和感应技术在医疗、军事、安保方面的应用研究不断深入。为了安全有效地应用太赫兹技术,特别是将太赫兹技术应用于诊断、活体成像、治疗、安检等领域,需要对太赫兹辐射的生物效应和安全性进行研究和评估,明确其生物效应特征和量效关系,获得致伤阈值。因此,THz生物效应研究成为本领域备受关注的热点。THz生物效应研究是开展THz应用研究的前提和必要条件,有助于加深对THz与生物系统相互作用机制的了解,也为未来THz技术的应用发展奠定基础。同时,从实际应用的角度来说,THz生物效应研究也是评价健康危害、建立安全标准、THz技术安全应用所必需的。本文将从THz辐射的热效应和非热效应两个方面,对THz生物效应研究进展进行综合阐述,并总结分析THz生物效应研究给我们的启示,对未来发展的方向进行展望。

The application of terahertz(THz)technology has expanded gradually in this century.Studies on the usages of THz imaging and sensing in medical,military,and security areas are going deeper and deeper.In order to use THz technology safely and effectively,especially in the fields of diagnosis,live imaging,therapy,and security screening,it is of great urgency to identify its bioeffects and dose-effect relationship,and then injury threshold so as to study and evaluate the safety and bioeffects of THz radiation.Therefore,the research on THz bioeffects becomes a hotspot in our field,and is the precondition and prerequisite for the studies on the THz application and the knowledge of interaction between THz wave and bio-systems,as well as on founding a basis for its future application and development.Moreover,the researches on THz bioeffects are essential for evaluating health hazards,establishing safety standards,and using THz technology safely.This article reviews the progress and development of THz bioeffects in thermal effects and non-thermal effects,and then,summarizes and analyzes the enlightenment of the researches,and look forward to the future development.