Miniaturized Terahertz Spectrometer

We propose to design and build a miniaturized pulsed terahertz (THz) sensing and spectroscopic system with the total system weight less than 5 lbs. The bandwidth of the THz system spans from 0.1 THz to 10 THz, and the system operates up to 10 MHz sampling rate and multi-kHz waveform scanning. The room-temperature balanced detection system is one of the most sensitive THz wave receivers with a noise equivalent power less than 10-16 W/Hz1/2. This system provides a dynamic range larger than 10,000 for a real time measurement. The miniaturized THz system consists of an ultra-compact THz source, a balanced photonic detector, and a novel time delay stage. They are integrated with a specially designed optical and THz optical system. Benefiting from the compact, lightweight and highly efficient fiber laser, the size of the THz source in the THz system will be less than 30 cubic inches, and the weight including power supply will be less than 3 pounds. The pulsed THz wave emitter will be a photoconductive antenna. Its high energy conversion efficiency promises a peak THz power over 1 Watt even with a low-power fiber laser as the excitation source.