Coherent optical computing for T-ray imaging

Abstract

Single-point imagery of 2D objects is proposed by exploiting the extreme broadband nature of an ultrafast terahertz wave. In the proposed imagery, a collimated terahertz beam is illuminated on an object, and the scattered fields are measured through a hole at the Fourier plane in a conventional terahertz time-domain spectroscope. This arrangement allows conversion of radial spatial frequencies of the object to the temporal spectrum of the pulse. Hence, a 2D image can be readily obtained by rotating a hole around the optical axis. Experimental results confirm that a complicated object can be reliably imaged using only 30 waveform measurements. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America