Researchers have achieved a new breakthrough in exploiting electromagnetic waves and will prove useful in further research for more advanced medical diagnosis.

The new research will allow researchers to build smaller more portable, easier to operate as well as cheaper terahertz waves (T-rays) systems for medical diagnostics. T-rays are used in airports scanners, medical scanning devices as well as in spectroscopy systems for materials analysis.

The rays will be able to sense molecules as every molecule has its unique signature in the THz range, according to a report in the journal Nature Photonics.

Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore, and Imperial College London said that the technology is also capable of detecting explosives or drugs, for gas pollution monitoring or non-destructive testing of semiconductor integrated circuit chips.

The researchers said that the new system with continuous wave T-rays could prove to be more useful and better medical scanning gadgets. The T-ray imaging devices in use at present are expensive and operate at only a low output power as creating these waves require large amounts of energy and requires low temperature.

Stefan Maier, a visiting scientist at A*STAR and professor of physics at Imperial College and the co-author of the study said: "T-rays promise to revolutionise medical scanning to make it faster and more convenient, potentially relieving patients from the inconvenience of complicated diagnostic procedures and the stress of waiting for accurate results."