Ranging and Acuity Enhancement for Terahertz Imaging Spectrometers

This Phase I effort identifies and analyzes a variety of antennas that can be used to mitigate standing-wave effects for pulsed and/or CW sub-millimeter-wave and THz imaging spectrometers independent of their technology (e.g. mm-wave vector network analyzers vs. fast-pulse time-domain THz systems). A close collaboration with Prof. Susan Hagness, who is an expert in computational electromagnetics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, ensures that the antenna designs we propose will be both simulated and optimized computationally to reduce effort in fabrication and testing, which will be the focus of a Phase II effort. This Phase I effort will establish the initial antenna designs, plans and preliminary measurements required to substantiate a demonstration plan in the future and to make predictions for range and acuity enhancements, while the Phase II effort will result in a prototype system capable of mitigating standing wave effects in THz-frequency spectral imaging applications of interest to the U.S. Army and DoD.