On the Influence of Delay Line Uncertainty in THz Time-Domain Spectroscopy

TL;DR

This paper models and validates how uncertainty in the delay line affects the accuracy of terahertz time-domain spectroscopy measurements, highlighting an often overlooked source of error.

Contribution

It provides a detailed theoretical model of delay line uncertainty impact in THz TDS and validates it with experimental data.

Findings

Delay line uncertainty significantly affects THz TDS data accuracy

Theoretical model accurately predicts the impact of delay line errors

Experimental validation confirms the importance of considering delay line precision

Abstract

Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz TDS) is a well-known tool for material analysis in the terahertz frequency band. One crucial system component in every time-domain spectrometer is the delay line which is necessary to accomplish the sampling of the electric field over time. Despite the fact that most of the uncertainty sources in TDS have been discussed, the delay line uncertainty has not been considered in detail. We model the impact of delay line uncertainty on the acquired THz TDS data. Interferometric measurements of the delay line precision and THz time-domain data are used to validate the theoretical model.