Terahertz scanless hypertemporal imaging

TL;DR

This paper introduces a scanless, single-pixel terahertz imaging method that significantly reduces acquisition time and system complexity, enabling faster, more practical terahertz imaging for complex objects.

Contribution

The authors develop a novel wave diffraction and time-to-space encoding technique for rapid, scanless terahertz imaging, overcoming traditional raster-scan limitations.

Findings

Achieved near-instantaneous terahertz waveform capture

Reduced system complexity and acquisition time

Enabled high-speed imaging with natural wave diffraction

Abstract

Since its first demonstration in 1995, terahertz time-domain imaging has attracted an increasingly growing interest for its ability to reveal spectral fingerprints of materials, probe changes in refractive index and absorption, as well as detect the inner structure of complex objects via time-of-flight measurements. Practically, however, its widespread use has been hampered by the very long acquisition time typically required to spatially raster-scan the object and, for each spatial point, record the field in time via a delay line. Here, we address this fundamental bottleneck by implementing a scanless single-pixel imaging scheme, which sets the path for an unprecedented reduction of both system complexity and acquisition time. By properly exploiting natural wave diffraction, time-to-space encoding applied to terahertz point detection allows for an almost instantaneous capture of the terahertz waveforms, while multidimensional images are reconstructed via a computational approach. Our scheme is a promising solution for the development of next-generation fast and compact terahertz imagers perfectly suitable for high-repetition-rate laser sources.