THz Photonics Technology and Its Applications

Haibo Liu, Hua Zhong, Nick Karpowicz, Xia Li, Albert Redo, Yunqing Chen, Jingzhou Xu, and X.C. Zhang Center for Terahertz Research, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180 USA Phone/Fax:(518) 276-3079/3292; zhangxc@rpi.edu; http://www.rpi.edu/terahertz Haewook Han Center for Terahertz Photonics, POSTECH, San-31 Hyoja-Dong Nam-Gu, Pohang, Kyugbuk, Korea Yun-Sik Jin Applied Electrophysics Group, Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute, 28-1 Sungju-Dong Changwon Gyungnam, Korea 641-120
Abstract Terahertz (THz) radiation, which occupies a large portion of the electromagnetic spectrum between the mid-infrared and microwave bands, offers innovative imaging and sensing technologies that can provide information, which may not be available through conventional methods (i.e. microwave and X-ray techniques.) As THz wave (T-ray) technology improves, we believe new THz wave sensing and imaging capabilities will impact a range of interdisciplinary fields, including: communications, imaging, medical diagnosis, health monitoring, environmental control, and chemical and biological identification. This is particularly crucial for identifying terrorist threats in homeland security (three to five years), and medical diagnosis or even clinical treatment in biomedical applications (five to ten years). Index Terms microwave photonics, THz wave, image, sensing.

I. INTRODUCTION Terahertz waves, like mid-infrared and microwaves in the adjacent bands of the electromagnetic spectrum, offer innovative imaging and sensing technologies for applications in material characterization, microelectronics, medical diagnosis, environmental control and chemical and biological identification. Recent advances in THz science and technology make it one of the most promising research areas in the 21st century for sensing and imaging, as well as in other interdisciplinary fields. Recently, government-supported THz wave related fundamental research in science and applied technology has increased substantially. We believe new T-ray capabilities will impact a broad range of interdisciplinary fields and industries, including communication, imaging, medical diagnosis, health monitoring, environmental control, and chemical and biological identification.

While microwave and X-ray imaging modalities produce density pictures, broadband T-ray imaging provides spectroscopic information in the THz frequency range. The unique rotational and vibrational responses of materials in the THz range provide information that is generally absent in optical, X-ray and NMR images. A THz wave can easily penetrate and inspect the insides of most dielectric materials, which are opaque to visible light and exhibit low contrast to X-rays, making THz imaging a useful complementary technology in this context. Recent years have seen a plethora of significant advances as THz sources and more sensitive detectors open up a range of potential applications. Applications including semiconductor and high-temperature superconductor characterization, tomographic imaging, label-free genetic analysis, cellular level imaging, and chemical and biological sensing have thrust THz research into the limelight. MIT Technology Review listed THz Technology in 10 Emerging Tech That Will Change World in its Feb. 2004 issue. The History Channel and Discovery TV Channel had 20-minute interviews and stories about THz research and development in their Modern Marvels and the Greatest Gadget programs. In 2003, the journal Nature featured the use of THz waves for defect identification for the NASA Space Shuttle program. NASA has installed six pulsed THz imaging systems for the non-destructive inspection of shuttle insulation foam. APS News reported on our THz imaging for the space shuttle foam application. Recently, the transfer of THz technology from the laboratory to industry has accelerated. Numerous international societies have started special THz symposiums or workshops for the first time. Other recent activities include the merging of the THz Electronics

Conference (THz Electronics) with the Infrared and Millimeter Wave Conference (IRMMW) in 2004. II. GENERATION AND DETCTION OF THZ WAVES THz waves, either pulsed or continuous wave (CW), can be generated and detected by various systems. Each of them has different output powers, bandwidths, detection efficiencies, etc. THz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) systems generate and detect picosecond THz pulses by a synchronous, coherent method using near-infrared femtosecond lasers. Free electron lasers can also provide pulsed THz waves with the highest power. For CW THz systems, there are five classes of CW sources and five classes of detectors. The broadband thermal emitter, such as glowbar, and cooled detector like bolometer are used in Fourier transformed farinfrared spectroscopy systems. Electronic sources include Gunn diodes, Bloch oscillators, and backwardwave oscillators. THz-wave parametric oscillators are nonlinear optical sources based on optical laser technology. In addition, THz lasers, including freeelectron lasers, gas lasers and quantum cascade lasers have been developing over the past thirty years. Schottky diodes are compact electronic detectors. Golay cell and pyroelectric detector are also used for THz wave detection. Additionally, quantum well THz detectors have been introduced recently. III. SENSING WITH THZ WAVES Spectroscopic technologies are essential for chemical and biological sensing. The THz-TDS technology developed in the past decade enables us to explore spectroscopic sensing in the THz band more easily. It covers a broad frequency range from approximately 100 GHz to 40 THz. Coherent detection and high signal-tonoise ratio (SNR, up to 10,000:1) make it an effective technique for sensing and identification. Many solid materials have THz absorption fingerprints, which are from either torsion vibrations, intermolecular (crystalline lattice) vibrations, or hydrogen-bonding stretches [1]. Based on this, THz spectroscopy has recently been applied in the investigation of explosives and related compounds, small biological molecules (such as drugs, amino acids and nucleobases), and other chemical substances. Various explosives and related compounds, including RDX, TNT, HMX, PETN, DNT, etc., have absorption fingerprints in THz range [2,3]. THz waves can penetrate through many dielectric materials, such as clothing, paper, plastics, leather, wood, and ceramics. In addition, THz radiations have low photon energies and will not cause harmful photoionization in biological tissues. Owing to these advantages, THz technology is a competitive method for inspecting hidden explosives.

Many groups have applied THz-TDS for explosive sensing in transmission mode. For real-field applications, reflection measurements are preferred, because bulky targets are impossible to measure in transmission mode. In addition, reflection spectroscopy, especially diffuse reflection spectroscopy, is more applicable than the transmission method for standoff detection. Figure 1 presents the absorption spectra of RDX from diffuse (Fresnel) reflection measurements (without any cover and with a paper cover), which agree with the transmission measurement well. These results indicate that THz waves have a great potential for standoff sensing of explosives concealed in packages or under clothing.
1.0 0.8 Absorbance (a.u.) Transmission 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 1.05 0.82 1.35 1.55

Reflection Paper cover 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 Frequency (THz) 1.4 1.6

Fig. 1. Absorption spectra of RDX from a transmission measurement and diffuse reflection measurements. Upper curve: transmission measurement; middle curve: diffuse reflection measurement (without any cover); bottom curve: diffuse reflection measurement (with a paper cover).

Another significant application of THz spectroscopy is for pharmaceutical materials since different polymorphisms and crystallinities of a pharmaceutical substance could have different THz fingerprints. THz spectroscopy has some advantages like high SNR, high speed, and adaptability for online use. These characteristics will make THz spectroscopy a complementary technique for X-ray diffraction in pharmaceutical science and industry. Here we give an example of using THz spectroscopy to identify the interaction of caffeine and sulfamethoxazole (SMZ), which is a drug used worldwide in the treatment of bacterial infections. Figure 2 shows the THz absorption spectra of bonded and mixed SMZ-caffeine.
3 Bonded SMZ-caffeine Mixed SMZ-caffeine Both are ~120 mg 2 at the same w/w ratio

Absorbance (a.u.)

0.5

1.0 1.5 2.0 Frequency (THz)

2.5

Fig. 2. Absorption spectra of bonded and mixed SMZcaffeine. There is an evident difference between the bonded and unbonded SMZ-caffeine, because of the change of the crystal structure after bonding.

IV. IMAGING WITH PULSED THZ WAVES Interest in THz imaging has increased alongside the development of THz technology. Because the wavelengths of THz waves are substantially smaller than those of microwave radiation, they are able to provide much higher spatial resolution. THz radiation is also significantly less susceptible to scattering than midinfrared light, allowing improved reconstruction fidelity compared to infrared tomography techniques. THz pulse imaging provides spatial, temporal and spectral domain information by applying THz -TDS techniques. It is considered a viable option for functional imaging, since many biological and chemical agents have signatures in this spectral domain. The earliest pulsed THz imaging experiment was conducted by raster scanning the sample with a focused THz beam [4]. The change of refractive index modulates the timing and phase of the pulse, and the density variation is shown in the pulse energy change. By analyzing the THz pulse in frequency domain it is possible to identify materials that have characteristic spectra. This geometry has been widely adopted in applications such as biomedical diagnosis, imaging and sensing of mines, drugs, and explosives, and nondestructive defect identification. Another remarkable pulsed THz imaging method is THz tomography. THz tomography refers to the imaging technology in which either reflected or transmitted THz wave illumination reveals the cross section of the object. Raster scanning THz imaging in reflection geometry can be placed in this category, as it reveals three-dimensional information about a layered structure by recording pulses reflected from each interface. For example, this technique has been applied in the inspection of space shuttle insulating foam, since defect interfaces modulate the pulses in both the time and frequency domains. THz computed tomography (CT) is the adaptation of X-ray tomography to the THz region [5]. Unlike traditional Xray CT, in which only the density image of the object can be reconstructed, THz CT is able to reconstruct both the reflective index and density image by performing a Radon transform on both the phase and amplitude of the transmitted THz pulses. Pulsed THz binary lens tomography utilizes the frequency dependent focal length of a Fresnel binary lens, so that the images at different depths are projected onto a single imaging plane at corresponding frequencies that satisfy the lens equation [6]. THz 2-D electro-optic (EO) imaging [7] is a big step forward compared to the traditional raster scan imaging. In this technique, the entire THz field modulates an

expanded probe beam on a large piece of EO sensor crystal. The modulated beam profile is captured by a CCD camera. It greatly improves data acquisition speed and makes real time THz imaging possible. However, there are still limitations to the application of this modality due to an insufficient SNR. There have been other pulsed THz imaging modalities that benefit from available technologies developed for other regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, or for sound waves. THz ranging measurement, THz synthetic aperture radar imaging, and THz interferometry, have all been explored based upon more established radar astronomy and holography techniques in microwave and radio frequency. There is also THz reflection multistatic imaging using Kirchhoff migration, which was originally carried out using ultrasound. Regarding THz imaging on the microscopic scale, THz near field imaging applies near field theory to break through the resolution limit set by the THz wavelength. Earlier THz near field microscopes used sub-wavelength apertures to detect the evanescent THz wave close to the sample surface. An alternative way is to have a THz source that is much smaller than the THz wavelength. A record of 150 nm resolution has been reported by using a tip-type near field THz microscope, in which a STM tip was used in the investigation [8]. V. IMAGING WITH CW THZ WAVES Imaging with CW radiation in the THz region of the electromagnetic spectrum was proposed in the 1970s [9], but has gained new attention recently due to technological advances that make it more practical. CW THz waves for imaging may be generated through a variety of methods, such as frequency-multiplied Gunn diode sources [10], backward-wave oscillators [11], quantum cascade lasers [12], photomixing [13] and CO2pumped low-pressure gas lasers, and have a narrow spectral linewidth compared to those generated by pulsed sources. As a result, the dynamic range at a given frequency can be relatively large and the acquisition of data may be simplified and accelerated. However, unlike the case of pulsed THz, a CW system lacks timeof-flight information and will only allow spectroscopic imaging if a tunable source or an ensemble of sources is used. Despite this constraint, the information supplied by a fixed-frequency CW system is adequate for many applications. Examples of CW THz images are shown in Figures 6 and 7. Figure 6 shows a 0.6 THz transmission image of a racquetball racket inside of its case. Since the case is a non-conducting cloth material, it is partially transparent to THz radiation. The source was a frequency-multiplied Gunn diode and the detector was a Golay cell. Figure 7 shows a panel of insulating foam of the kind that covers the external tank of the space shuttle. This foam has low attenuation in the THz region and thus a

THz imaging system is capable of locating defects hidden inside. In the sample shown, there are 29 manmade defects, of which 28 were detected. The source was a frequency multiplied Gunn diode operating at 0.2 THz and the detector was a Schottky diode.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The authors wish to acknowledge the support of the U.S. Army Research Office under the MURI project, the Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems, under the Engineering Research Centers Program of the National Science Foundation, and the Photonics Technology Access Program under the Optoelectronics Industry Development Association. REFERENCES [1] G.W. Chantry, Submillimetre Spectroscopy: A Guide to the Theoretical and Experimental Physics of the Far Infrared, Academic Press Inc. Ltd., London, 1971. M. C. Kemp, P. F. Taday, B. E. Cole, J. A. Cluff, A. J. Fitzgerald, and W. R. Tribe, Security applications of terahertz technology, Proc. SPIE, vol. 5070, pp. 44-52, 2003. Yunqing Chen, Haibo Liu, Yanqing Deng, Dmitry Veksler, Michael Shur, X. -C. Zhang, Dunja Schauki, Michael J. Fitch, and Robert Osiander, "Spectroscopic characterization of explosives in the far infrared region," Proc. SPIE, vol 5411, n 1, pp. 1-8, 2004. B. B. Hu and M. C. Nuss, Imaging with terahertz waves, Opt. Lett., vol. 20, pp. 1716-1718, 1995. B. S. Ferguson, S. H. Wang, D. Gray, D. Abbot, and X.-C. Zhang, T-ray computed tomography, Opt. Lett. vol. 27, pp. 1312-1314, 2002. S. H. Wang and X.-C. Zhang, Tomographic imaging with a terahertz binary lens, Appl. Phys. Lett. vol. 82, pp. 1821-1823, 2003. M. Usami, M. Yamashita, K. Fukushima, C. Otani, K. Kawase, "Terahertz wideband spectroscopic imaging based on 2D electro-optic sampling technique," Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 86, no. 141109, pp. 141109 1-3, 2005. H. Chen, R. Kersting, and G. Cho, Terahertz imaging with nanometer resolution, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 83, pp. 3009-3011, 2003. T. S. Hartwick, D. T. Hodges, D. H. Barker, and F. B. Foote, Far infrared imagery, Appl. Opt., vol.15, pp. 1919-1922, 1976. N. Karpowicz, H. Zhong, C. Zhang, K.-I Lin, J.-S. Hwang, J. Xu and X.-C. Zhang, Compact continuous-wave subterahertz system for inspection applications, Appl. Phys. Lett. vol. 86, 054105, 2005. A. Dobroiu, M. Yamashita, Y. N. Ohshima, Y. Morita, C. Otani, and K. Kawase, Terahertz imaging system based on a backward-wave oscillator, Appl. Opt., vol. 43, pp. 5637-5646, 2004. I.S. Gregory, W.R. Tribe, B.E. Cole, C. Baker, M.J. Evans, I.V. Bradley, E.H. Linfield, A.G. Davies and M. Missous, Phase sensitive continuous-wave THz imaging using diode lasers, Electronics Letters, vol. 40, pp, 143-145, 2004. T. Kleine-Ostmann, P. Knobloch, M. Koch, S. Hoffmann, M. Breede, M. Hofmann, G. Hein, K. Pierz, M. Sperling and K. Donhuijsen, Continuous-wave THz imaging, Electronics Letters, vol. 37, pp. 1461-1463, 2001.

[2]

[3]
(a) (b) Fig. 6. (a) Optical image and (b) 0.6 THz image of a racquetball racket in a case.

[4] [5] [6] [7]

CW THz sources and detectors allow for the construction of compact and fast THz imaging systems. Although less information is provided relative to a pulsed system, such an imaging system has the potential to be useful in a wide range of industrial applications, such as in the aerospace and manufacturing industries.

[8] [9] [10] (a) (b)

Fig. 7. (a) Optical image and (b) 0.2 THz image of a 0.6 m x 0.6 m sample of space shuttle insulating foam with built-in defects.

[11]

VII. CONCLUSION THz photonic technology developed rapidly over the past decade. Improved source and detector performance continue to enable new application areas and facilitate the transition of THz systems from the laboratory to commercial industry. THz spectroscopy and nondestructive evaluation might be two direct applications for industrial companies. [12]

[13]