Applications of terahertz imaging

The recent advances involving imaging with sub-picosecond terahertz pulses have opened up a wide range of possibilities in the applications of far-infrared technology. For the first time, a commercially viable terahertz imaging spectrometer seems a realizable prospect. However, several substantial engineering research challenges remain to be overcome before this goal can be achieved. One of these involves the necessity for a femtosecond laser system, required for gating the emitter and receiver antennas used in the THz-TDS system. The demonstration experiments performed to date have employed rather crude signal processing algorithms. The shortcomings of these are evident in some of the results presented here, highlighting the need for a more sophisticated treatment