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Three-dimensional terahertz wave imaging


X.-C. Zhang Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A 2004 362, 283-299 doi: 10.1098/rsta.2003.1317

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10.1098/rsta.2003.1317

Three-dimensional terahertz wave imaging


By X.-C. Z h a n g Center for Terahertz Research, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 110 8th Street, Troy, NY 12180, USA (zhangxc@rpi.edu)
Published online 17 December 2003

Pulsed terahertz (THz) wave sensing and imaging is a coherent measurement technology. Like radar, based on the phase and amplitude of the THz pulse at each frequency, THz waves provide temporal and spectroscopic information that allows us to develop various three-dimensional (3D) terahertz tomographic imaging modalities. The 3D THz tomographic imaging methods we investigated include THz time-ofight tomography, THz computed tomography (CT) and THz binary lens tomography. THz time-of-ight uses the THz pulses as a probe beam to temporally mark the target, and then constructs a 3D image of the target using the THz waves scattered by the target. THz CT is based on geometrical optics and inspired from X-ray CT. THz binary lens tomography uses the frequency-dependent focal-length property of binary lenses to obtain tomographic images of an object. Three-dimensional THz imaging has potential in such applications as non-destructive inspection. The interaction between a coherent THz pulse and an object provides rich information about the object under study; therefore, 3D THz imaging can be used to inspect or characterize dielectric and semiconductor objects. For example, 3D THz imaging has been used to detect and identify the defects inside a Space Shuttle insulation tile.
Keywords: terahertz; imaging; spectroscopy; sensing; tomography

1. Introduction
Terahertz (THz) waves, like infrared and microwaves in the adjacent higher and lower frequency bands of the electromagnetic spectrum, oer potential innovative imaging and sensing technologies (Cheo 1977; Hartwick 1977; Hartwick et al. 1976; Keilmann & Renk 1971; Lashand & Yundev 1984; Malykh et al. 1975). THz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) and related THz technologies, especially THz wave (T-ray) imaging modalities, will help us view the world in new ways by providing spectroscopic information, such as functional imaging, not available through conventional imaging methods such as microwaves and X-rays. Compared with the well-developed science and technology in microwave and optical frequencies, basic THz science and technology is in its infancy. As T-ray technology expands and improves, it reveals the potential to impact on an almost limitless number of interdisciplinary elds including communications, microelectronics, imaging, medical diagnosis, health monitoring, environmental control, agriculture, forensic science, and chemical and biological identication (Ferguson & Zhang 2002). The
One contribution of 16 to a Discussion Meeting The terahertz gap: the generation of far-infrared radiation and its applications. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A (2004) 362, 283299 c 2003 The Royal Society

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(a) 200 no. of papers 150 100 50 0 90 92 94 96 year 98 00 02 T-ray imaging

X.-C. Zhang
(b) material testing 17% microscope 8% waveguide 6% gas 4%

other 20% imaging 11% tomography 3%

semiconductor 25% biomedical 6%

Figure 1. (a) INSPEC shows over 1400 papers in pulsed THz generation, detection, propagation and application have been published since 1990. (b) The eld distribution among the papers collected from leading journals during the past six years.

explosion of interest in this once ignored eld is illustrated by the great number of research papers on pulsed THz published since 1990 (see gure 1a). Figure 1b illustrates how these papers have been applied to a wide range of applications. Although THz and tomographic imaging accounts for only 14% of all pulsed THz papers in the INSPEC database in the past six years, this percentage has increased rapidly in recent years. The rapid growth in interest in T-ray technology is spurred by the promise of a new sensing and imaging technology oering major advantages over equipment currently in use. T-rays maintain low-photon energy (4 meV at 1 THz) and therefore do not subject biological tissue to harmful ionizing radiation (Smye et al. 2001). In comparison, a typical X-ray photon energy is in the range of keV, which is one million times stronger than the energy of T-ray photons. In addition, microwave and X-ray imaging modalities produce only density pictures, while T-ray imaging also provides spectroscopic information within the THz frequency range. The unique rotational, vibrational and translational responses of materials within the THz range provide information that is absent or dicult to detect in optical, X-ray and NMR images. In principle, these transitions are highly specic to the molecule and therefore enable ngerprinting with T-rays. Since the onset of T-ray imaging in 1995 (Hu & Nuss 1995), various T-ray imaging modalities have been proposed, developed, and demonstrated for numerous applications (Arnone et al. 1999; Chen & Zhang 2001; Chen et al. 1999, 2000, 2001; Cheo 1977; Dorney et al. 2001; Ferguson & Zhang 2002; Ferguson et al. 2001a; Han et al. 2000; Hartwick 1977; Hu & Nuss 1995; Hunsche et al. 1998; Jiang & Zhang 1998a,b, 1999, 2000; Jiang et al. 2000; Johnson et al. 2001a,b; Koch 1999; Lashand & Yundev 1984; Loer et al. 2001; McClatchey et al. 2001; Mickan et al. 2000; Mitrofanov et al. 2000, 2001; Mittleman et al. 1996, 1997, 1999; OHara & Grischkowsky 2001; Run et al. 2001; Smye et al. 2001; Woodward et al. 2001; Wu et al. 1996a,b). They include electro-optic (EO) imaging (Wu et al. 1996a), time-of-ight three-dimensional (3D) imaging (Wu et al. 1996a,b), single-shot imaging (Jiang & Zhang 1998b), near-eld imaging (Koch 1999; Mitrofanov et al. 2000), dark-eld imaging (Loer et al. 2001), bistatic THz wave imaging (Dorney et al. 2001; Planken 2001), THz wave computed tomography (CT) (Ferguson et al. 2001b, 2002a,b), and THz wave tomographic imaging with Fresnel lenses (Wang & Zhang 2002). Highlights on the development of major T-ray imaging modalities since 1995 include Hu & Nuss (1995), Wu et al. (1996a),
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Three-dimensional THz wave imaging


sample

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chopper probe

ZnTe
Figure 2. Schematic of a THz imaging system with an EO transceiver.

THz signal (arb. units)

6 4 2 0 2 0 2 4 6 time delay (ps) (i) (ii)

(iii)

Figure 3. THz waveform reected from (i) the metal handle of the razor, (ii) the razor surface and (iii) the metallic mirror behind the hole.

Mittleman et al. (1997), Jiang & Zhang (1998a), Run et al. (2001), Dorney et al. (2001), Ferguson et al. (2002b) and Mittleman (2002). Early research on 3D THz imaging is based on the time-of-ight method. The depth information is collected by counting precisely the temporal dierence of a THz pulse returned from a target, where the target is xy scanned by a pair of linear translational stages, then the planar and depth data are used to construct the 3D image. The standard tomographic-imaging method, similar to the one used in X-ray CT, is applied to THz 3D imaging.

2. T-ray time-of-ight imaging


The 3D imaging capability using the time-of-ight method is one of the unique features of pulsed-T-ray imaging. Briey, a THz pulse is incident on the target and, from this, the amplitude and timing (time of ight) of the reected T-ray from the surface or sub-surface are measured precisely. Depth information of the 3D dielectric proles of the target can be obtained by using the dierence of the time-of-ight, which is converted into the dierence of the depth. This method has been used for THz ranging and 3D imaging (Ferguson & Zhang 2002; Lashand & Yundev 1984). The concept of an experimental set-up of a THz imaging system with an EO transceiver is shown in gure 2. An EO crystal ZnTe serves as a T-ray transceiver (emitter/receiver). A pair of ultrashort optical pulses (pump and probe pulse) is used to generate and detect a THz pulse through optical rectication and the EO eect.
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5 ps 0 5 3 2 cm 4 1 0
Figure 4. THz tomographic image of a razor. The grey level represents the timing of the signal peak.

cm

4 2 0 3 2 cm 4 1 0 2
cm

Figure 5. THz image of a razor. The grey level represents the peak intensity.

Compared with the traditional THz tomography set-up in reection geometry, this imaging system with the EO transceiver is easier to align, and the normal incidence of the THz beam on the sample can be maintained. Three features of the reected signal may be used to analyse a returned signal from an unknown surface: the change of the peak amplitude, the timing or phase shift (time of ight) of the signal (often from the peak or zero-crossing point near the peak) and the temporal waveform distortion. The timing provides the depth prole and the change of the signal amplitude and the waveform distortion indicates the surface roughness and/or dielectric distribution at the surface or interface. However, if the target has a conducting surface (such as a metallic surface), then only timing can be used for the depth prole. A round-trip time delay of a reected T-ray in freespace is ca. 6.6 ps mm1 ; for a typical temporal resolution of 6 fs in THz time-domain measurements, this gives a depth resolution of ca. 1 m. THz 3D imaging with an EO transceiver is illustrated by using a razor pasted onto a metal mirror. There are three dierent metal-reection layers in this sample: the rst one is the metal handle of the razor, the second is the razor surface and the third is the metal mirror. Figure 3 shows THz waveforms reected from the three dierent layers above. The timing dierence of the peak intensity tells us the spatial separation of the layers,
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Three-dimensional THz wave imaging


2.5 (a) 2.0 cm 1.5 1.0 0.5 0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 cm 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 cm (b)

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Figure 6. THz image of (a) a US 25c (quarter) piece, (b) a fty-pence piece. The grey level represents the timing of the peak intensity.

2.5 (a) 2.0 cm 1.5 1.0 0.5 0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 cm

(b)

0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 cm

Figure 7. THz image of (a) a US 25c (quarter) piece, (b) a fty-pence piece. The grey level represents the peak intensity within a certain timing window.

y P( ,t) t

x f (x,y) T-rays Radon transform


Figure 8. Illustration of T-ray CT. The target is scanned in the t-direction and rotated. The detected signal is the line integral of the complex impedance (attenuation and phase) of the target. In this way, the spatial (x, y ) domain is mapped to the domain (, t).

which can be used to construct a 3D image of the razor, as shown in gure 4. The peak intensity distribution can also form a two-dimensional (2D) THz image, as shown in gure 5. When the THz beam is incident on the boundary of the dierent metal layers, only part of it can be reected back and detected, so the peak THz intensity decreases. A THz image formed in this fashion can tell us the prole of the object. With the same imaging system, THz images of a US 25c (quarter) piece and a ftypence piece are demonstrated, as shown in gure 6. The image contrast is limited by
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the THz beam focal size and the atness of the metal surface background. In the case of a slightly unparallel surface atness, the image is displayed in terms of the peak intensity within a certain short timing window to obtain additional information of the imaged object, as can be seen in gure 7. The width of the short timing window is decided by the degree of irregularity on the surface. If two imaging areas are on two dierent reection layers, and their spatial separation is large enough, the image can be displayed in the above fashion at two dierent timing positions, which is decided by the spatial separation. 3D THz imaging can still be realized without displaying the image in terms of the timing of peak intensity. A major limitation of the time-of-ight method is that it may only be applied to a reection geometry.

3. T-ray computed tomography (T-ray CT)


The concept of T-ray computed tomographic imaging is schematically illustrated in gure 8. The target sample is mounted on a rotation stage, which allows it to rotate, and a 2D THz image is obtained at each projection angle. T-ray CT is a novel technique for tomographic imaging with pulsed THz radiation. T-ray CT extends THz imaging to the mapping of 3D objects. In addition to providing sectional images of objects in a manner analogous to conventional computed tomography techniques, such as X-ray CT, the THz approach also provides spectroscopic information for target identication. T-ray CT is inspired by the now ubiquitous X-ray CT system. The hardware is a relatively simple extension of modern transmission-mode THz imaging systems. The data can then be processed using the ltered back-projection algorithm to reconstruct the refractive index and absorption coecient at every position within the sample volume by inverting the Radon transform, P (, t) =
L(,t)

f (x, y ) dl = Re(f (x, y )).

(3.1)

The Radon transform assumes a shadow model and neither considers diraction eects, nor does it account for the direction dependent Fresnel loss encountered in T-ray CT. In equation (3.1) P are the measured projection data, is the projection angle, t is the horizontal oset of the projection from the axis of rotation, and f (x, y ) is the projected slice of the sample we wish to reconstruct. The measured data are assumed to be a simple line integral. This reconstruction algorithm may be performed to reconstruct a number of features from the measured data, depending upon the desired application. The amplitude of the THz pulse and the timing of the peak of the pulse are prime examples. The reconstructed amplitude image gives a 3D image, which depends on the bulk absorption of the sample in the far-infrared (including Fresnel losses), while the reconstructed timing image provides a refractive index map of the sample in three dimensions. Using the phase information, which is equivalent to the timing of the scattered THz pulse, leads to a 3D image of the index of refraction. Ultrafast lasers generate THz pulses. An ultrafast laser delivers pulses of 800 nm (near-infrared) of light with a pulse width of 100 fs. The laser pulses trigger a photocurrent in a GaAs photoconductive antenna, which results in the emission of broadband pulses of THz radiation. The THz radiation is then focused and transmitted
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through the target. After transmission, it is collected using parabolic mirrors and focused onto a ZnTe EO detector crystal. Data-acquisition speed is an important concern in all THz imaging systems, and it is of particular importance for T-ray CT because multiple images of the object must be obtained. For this reason a linearly chirped optical probe beam is used for EO detection of the THz pulses (Smye et al. 2001). By using this technique, the full THz waveform is measured simultaneously, dramatically accelerating the imaging speed. The target is then raster scanned in x- and y -dimensions to form a 2D image. This technique is very time-consuming; a typical image of 100 100 pixels measured at 18 projection angles can take over an hour. Fortunately, there are several methods available to improve acquisition speed. Performing 2D THz imaging with a high speed charge-coupled device (CCD) camera (1825 frames per second) may potentially reduce the acquisition time to a few seconds.

4. Reconstructing the images


The reconstruction of the 3D object from the measured projection data is performed using mathematical inverse algorithms. T-ray CT borrows algorithms from the wellestablished eld of X-ray CT. The ltered back-projection algorithm remains the workhorse in this domain. It is used to invert the Radon transform to reconstruct the object of interest. In T-ray CT, the detected THz signal can be approximated by a line integral of the form Pd (, t) = Pt exp
L(,t)

in(x) dx , c

(4.1)

where Pd (, t) is the detected THz signal at a projection angle, , and a horizontal oset from the axis of rotation, t. The incident THz signal is Pt , L is the straight line between the source and detector, is the angular THz frequency, and n(x) is the unknown complex refractive index of the sample. The ltered back-projection algorithm is then used to compute n using the measured projection data. This method contains a number of implicit assumptions that are only valid in approximation, but it serves us well when reconstructing objects of simple geometry. Unlike traditional X-ray CT, which only measures the amplitude of the transmitted radiation, T-ray CT measures the transmitted pulse shape. This allows us to obtain information about the object in detail, including the index of refraction. Using the timing (or phase) allows reconstruction of a refractive index map of the sample in three dimensions. Full reconstruction algorithms may use the Fourier transform of the measured THz pulses to reconstruct the frequency-dependent refractive index and absorption of the sample. This may then allow dierent materials to be identied. To demonstrate the feasibility of 3D reconstruction, we test a hollow dielectric sphere using a 1 mm step size and 18 dierent projection angles (see gure 9). The amplitude of the THz pulse for each projection is used to reconstruct the sphere as can be seen in gure 10. The basic shape of the sphere and the axed plastic rod is clearly visible. Figure 11 shows an optical photograph of a complex target (a piece of turkey bone). This sample is imaged using the T-ray CT system, and the amplitude of the measured THz pulses is used to reconstruct the bone. It is obvious that although the outer prole is reconstructed with reasonable accuracy, the ne internal structure is
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Figure 9. A hollow dielectric sphere is imaged using T-ray CT. The sphere is attached to a plastic rod, which is rotated by the rotation stage. The sphere is scanned with a 1 mm step size, and a THz image is obtained for 18 dierent projection angles.

Figure 10. The amplitude of the THz pulse at each pixel of the sphere is used as the input to the ltered back-projection algorithm. Each horizontal slice of the sphere is reconstructed, and the slices are combined and rendered to form a 3D image.

not recovered. The reconstructed 3D THz image is shown in gure 12. Because of Abbes principle, the ne structure of the inner bone cannot be resolved. Perhaps the most important feature of THz wave imaging is its potential for functional imaging. Figure 13 shows two representative dielectric targets. The triangular target is imaged with coarse step sizes. The circular target is imaged with a ne step size to allow the resolution of the CT system to be analysed. The reconstructed refractive index cross-sections for these two targets are shown in gure 14. The refractive index of the polystyrene is measured with an error of less than 10% for the resolution test target. For the triangular target the index accuracy is ca. 35%; this increased error is attributed to the small number of projections and coarse sampling. The structure of both targets is very accurately recovered. Analysis of the resolution test target indicates that the resolution of the system exceeds 0.5 mm, and the sensitivity of index change is lower than 0.001. The refractive index of the polystyrene target is 1.012. The reconstructed image is very accurate in both the structure and dielectric properties of the target. The
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Figure 11. A piece of turkey bone is imaged using the T-ray CT system. The ne structure inside the bone is of the order of the THz wavelength and therefore causes diculties in reconstruction.

Figure 12. 3D image of a turkey bone. The reconstruction used the amplitude of the THz pulses at each pixel as the input to the ltered back-projection algorithm.

(b) (a)

Figure 13. (a) A triangular polystyrene cylinder with a side length of ca. 1 cm. (b) A polystyrene cylinder with 1.5 mm diameter holes with varying inter-hole spacing.

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(a)

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(b) n
0.02 0.01 0

n 0.005
0

0.010

40 30 Y (m 20 m ) 10 40 30 ) 20 mm X(

40
Y 30 (m m 20 )

40 10 20 10
X(

10

30 ) mm

Figure 14. Reconstructed cross-sections of the polystyrene targets of (a) the triangular polystyrene target and (b) the cylinder polystyrene target.

z -dimension in the image depicts the refractive index of the material. In gure 14b, the two holes in the upper right corner of the image are separated by 0.5 mm of polystyrene. This system has the ability to measure the refractive index of 3D targets with an accuracy of 10%, and a resolution of 0.5 mm.

5. THz tomographic imaging with a Fresnel binary lens


The broadband frequency associated with a pulsed T-ray provides tomographicimaging capability with the use of a Fresnel binary lens. The focal length of a binary lens is linearly proportional to the frequency of the imaging beam; this property allows objects at various positions along the beam propagation path to be uniquely imaged on the same imaging plane with dierent corresponding frequencies. Compared with conventional lenses, binary lenses have several attractive features for THz applications. These include their exibility in design, capacity of integration, and freedom in the choice of substrate (Wang et al. 2002). Binary lenses maintain large dispersion rates and are not typically used for imaging, but for correcting chromatic aberrations. However, the linearly frequency-dependent focal length may be used to obtain tomographic images of a target using multiple frequency illumination. 3D Fresnel lens imaging in the microwave frequency range has been previously demonstrated (Minin & Minin 2000). A binary lens is a Fresnel zone plate with phase or amplitude modulated patterns, formed by a series of concentric ring structures. The main focal length is dened as
2 2 rp rp = , (5.1) 2 2c 2 is the Fresnel zone period with a dimension of area, is the wavelength, where rp c is the speed of light, and is the light frequency. The focal length f is linearly proportional to frequency . In the case of single frequency illumination under the paraxial ray approximation, a binary lens-imaging system performs as a conventional lens. An object and its image satisfy the lens law, 1 1 1 = , (5.2) + z z f

f =

where z is the distance between the object and the lens, z is the distance from the image to the lens and f is the focal length of the binary lens at frequency .
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2 cm

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2 cm 0.75 THz 1.24 THz 1.57 THz


THz wave

7 cm 4 cm 6 cm z' 3 cm z

Figure 15. Schematic of tomographic imaging with a Fresnel lens. Three targets are placed 3 cm, 7 cm, and 14 cm away from the Fresnel lens. The multiple patterns are imaged on the sensor at a distance of 6 cm from the Fresnel lens, with inverted tomography images of the patterns at the frequencies of 0.75 THz, 1.24 THz and 1.57 THz, respectively.

The image is magnied by a factor Mt = z /z . If the image plane is xed and the illumination frequency changes, the focal length will also change due to the frequency-dependent properties of the binary lens. As a result, by equation (5.2), the object distance must also change, so that its image remains on the xed image plane. In such an imaging system, the relationship between object distance and beam frequency can be obtained by combining equations (5.1) and (5.2), which yields, z=
2 z rp f z . = 2 z f 2cz rp

(5.3)

Equation (5.3) indicates that in a binary lens-imaging system using frequency , only the 2D object at a position z satisfying equation (5.3) will result in a focused image on the xed image plane. For a target consisting of multiple 2D objects, we are able to image the objects at various positions along the beam propagation path onto the same image plane using a binary lens at dierent frequencies. Based on the measured image at each frequency, we can carry out a tomographic target reconstruction by assembling the frequency-dependent images according to their magnication factors. This procedure also provides a much simpler tomographic reconstruction algorithm compared with general tomographic techniques. Figure 15 schematically illustrates the THz binary lens-imaging set-up, which is the same as the one used for the characterization of THz binary lenses. The imaging lens was a 30 mm diameter silicon binary lens with a focal length of 2.5 cm at 1 THz 2 = 15 mm2 ). Three 60 mm 45 mm 2 mm acrylic plastic masks with dierent (rp open patterns were placed along the THz beam path, and their distances from the lens, corresponding to z in equation (5.3), were 3 cm, 7 cm and 14 cm respectively. The plastics are transparent to THz and have a refractive index of 1.5 within the frequency range from 0.5 THz to 2 THz. By scanning the time delay between the THz pulses and optical probe beam pulses, a temporal waveform of the T-ray at each pixel
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16 z' = 4.6 cm 12 z (cm) z' = 5.7 cm

z' = 7.4 cm

0 0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2 (THz)

1.4

1.6

1.8

Figure 16. Measured data and calculated curves of the object distance z versus the imaging beam frequency with the image distance z xed at 4.6 cm, 5.7 cm, and 7.4 cm, respectively. The focal length f of the binary lens is 2.5 cm at 1 THz.

on the image plane was measured using a CCD camera. Fourier transformation of the temporal waveforms provided the THz eld amplitude (or intensity) distribution on the image plane at each frequency, which formed the image of the THz eld transmission of a target. To study the depth resolution along the z -axes, gure 16 plots the measured (points) and calculated (curves) target distance z versus the imaging beam frequency with the image distance z xed at 4.6 cm, 5.7 cm and 7.4 cm, respectively. A good agreement between the experimental result and the calculated curves is observed, which indicates that equation (5.3) can be used to evaluate the resolution of z . Several factors may limit the resolution of the tomographic image along the z -axis, which is dened as the depth resolution. The rst one is the THz frequency measurement resolution, which can be estimated by dierentiating equation (5.3), which is given by z 2 z = . (5.4) f For a broadband THz pulse with a frequency resolution of = 19 GHz, from equation (5.4), the estimated depth resolution z = 2 mm at = 1 THz (for z = 4.6 cm, z = 5.7 cm). The second factor limiting the depth resolution is the THz beam depth of focus, which is dened as twice the Rayleigh range of the THz beam on the image plane. The depth uncertainty resulting from the depth of focus is given by the depth of focus divided by the square of the magnication factor. This is a function of z , and increases with z . The measured depth of focus is 3 mm at 1 THz (z = 4.6 cm, z = 5.7 cm and = 19 GHz), which corresponds to depth resolution of 5 mm. The third factor is the caustic curve that is induced by the non-paraxial ray. Several methods may be employed to improve the depth resolution, depending on which of these factors is the most limiting. In the case that the depth of focus limits the resolution, one can use a larger numerical aperture binary lens. When the frequency resolution limits the depth resolution, it can be improved by increasing
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m 2.4 11 19 27 35 43 51 59 67 75 83 92 100 108

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amplitude (arb. units)

5 5 5 10 10 10 10 10 0 20 40 60 time (ps) 80

0.5 1.0 1.5 frequency (THz)

2.0

Figure 17. Measured THz waveforms and their spectra between 2.4 m and 108 m.

the frequency measurement resolution, for instance, by increasing the length of the measured THz pulses. In our experiment, the depth of focus proves to be the limiting factor. Compared with other THz wave imaging methods (such as time-of-ight, or conventional T-ray CT) that may provide spatially resolved spectroscopic information, one major limitation of using a binary lens is that the image contains no spectroscopic information. Although this demonstration uses broadband THz radiation as the imaging beam, the binary lens tomographic-imaging concept is also applicable to a tunable narrowband imaging beam, and can be applied to other frequency ranges, including the visible.

6. Long distance sensing and imaging


THz sensing and imaging is currently used in basic and applied research projects in material science, electrical engineering, physics and chemistry. However, research activities reported for mid-range to long-range THz time-domain spectroscopic sensing and imaging are very limited. The majority of research and development eorts have been limited to targets that are within a relatively short distance, mostly within a 1 m range. These limitations must be overcome if THz tomographic imaging is to meet its full potential. For real-world application, mid- to long-distance sensing and imaging is crucial. For long-distance and large-target T-ray imaging, we have developed a T-ray imaging system with high dynamic range. We use an amplied Ti:sapphire laser and a ZnTe crystal as the T-ray emitter (through optical rectication) to generate pulsed THz waves. The optical power of the pump beam (generation) and probe beam is 150 mW and 0.1 mW, respectively. To create a long beam path on our table, we use thirtytwo 3 in (1 in 2.54 cm) diameter aluminium mirrors to form the THz beam path. The maximum travelling distance is 145 m (from emitter to sensor). Figure 17 shows measured THz waveforms and their spectra (after fast Fourier transform) between 2.4 m and 108 m with each incremental step at ca. 8 m. The temperature is 22 C, and
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normalized spectrum

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humidity is 5% (winter). There are several transparent windows between 0.75 THz and 1 THz.

7. Current limitations for THz tomographic imaging


Current T-ray tomographic techniques are still limited to the small-scale laboratory. The bottleneck is the signal-to-noise ratio. The following are major limitations, which result from a low signal-to-noise ratio. (i) There is a long data-acquisition time: it takes several minutes to hours to develop one image. (ii) The imaging distance is short: current systems require small targets within tens of cm of the THz source. (iii) There is limited T-ray power for large-scale imaging: except free-electron lasers, most T-ray sources are relatively low powered. (iv) The availability of components of T-ray imaging is lacking: unlike the case for optical imaging, high-quality T-ray imaging components, such as lenses and polarizers, are not well developed.
This work is supported in part by the US Army Research Oce under DARPA/MTO, the MURI project (DAAD190210255), and the US National Science Foundation.

References
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Discussion Q. Hu (Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA). You mentioned using continuouswave sources for imaging. Could you provide more details about how you do it, and cope with interference. You are talking about more than 1 cm thicknesseshow do you get the depth information out of a multi-layer? X.-C. Zhang. There is one possible way. You can use a helium laser for ranging by counting fringes one by one. In principle, you can do it with a THz continuous-wave source as well. Then you can use an interferometric technique to see defects. However, I do not have a continuous-wave source in my laboratory, but it is one thing that would reduce cost. It also could make things a bit easier for a large object, when you might have to put your inspection system on a crane. I was not planning to put an amplied laser and optic table on one! H. Roskos (Physikalisches Institut, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universit at, Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany ). One could think of doing confocal microscopy also in the THz range. This would eliminate some of the interference eects, at the same time giving a good depth resolution. I think one can learn a lot from normal microscopy. By going continuous wave, you could apply a lot of techniques that people in optical microscopy have developed over more than a century. X.-C. Zhang. That is true. One problem is that it is ne if you are doing something in the laboratory on a smaller scale. But if you are trying to look at, for example, a large number of Space Shuttle tiles, with 0.5 cm resolution, it takes enormous eort. So we decided that we would go to plane waves and not use a confocal system.
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P. Haring Bol var (Institut f ur Halbleitertechnik, RWTH Aachen, Germany ). Your rst samples were at. Do you think that looking at the topology of, for example, the Space Shuttle, when imaging with a plane wave, will further complicate matters. Do you think that it might be necessary to scan at an angle? X.-C. Zhang. Yes, that is correct. The rst sample we measured with a plane wave was pre-built in order to see if we can measure defects. For curved surfaces, such as on the shuttle surface, the topology needs to be considered.

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