Abstract
Cost effective imaging is required for a wide range of scientific and engineering applications. For electromagnetic waves in the terahertz (THz) frequency range, a key missing element that has prevented widespread applications in this spectral range is an inexpensive and efficient imaging device. In recent years, vanadium oxide based thermal sensors have rapidly entered the market for night vision capability. At the same time, sensors based on this technology have been applied to the THz domain, but with two orders of magnitude larger pricing range. Here we show that, with a simple modification, a commercially available thermal imaging camera can function as a THz imaging device. By comparing a commercially available THz camera and this low-cost device, we identify the main sensitivity difference is not attributed to anything intrinsic to the devices, but rather to the analog-to-digital converter and dynamic background subtraction capability. This demonstration of a low-cost THz camera may aid in the rapid development of affordable THz imaging solutions for industrial and scientific applications.
Highlights
Terahertz (THz) imaging methods have considerably evolved over the past decade [1,2] driven by a wide range of highly anticipated applications [3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]
Our results indicate comparable sensitivities between a thermal imaging camera (Seek Thermal Company) and a scientific THz imaging camera (Institut National d’optique (INO) de Québec)
We note that the titled-pulse-front pumping (TPFP) scheme is ideally suited to investigate the generation of THz radiation without interference from the near infrared (NIR) pumping beam at the detector position
Summary
Terahertz (THz) imaging methods have considerably evolved over the past decade [1,2] driven by a wide range of highly anticipated applications [3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. Some of the promising THz imaging prospects are for non-destructive testing of materials [3,4,5], medical and pharmaceutical applications [6,7], art conservation [8], security screening [9], and food inspection [10] All these applications still face the same challenges, reducing acquisition time, simplifying the routing optics, compactness, ease-of-use, reliability and low-cost in fabrication and operation. On top of these issues, a second challenge is the technological accreditation over established technologies, such as X-ray and ultrasound imaging. For scientific applications of THz waves, a great wall has been eliminated when researchers were able to visualize the THz light emitted from a nonlinear optical generation process [11]
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