Broadband terahertz time-domain spectroscopy and fast FMCW imaging: Principle and applications

We report a broadband terahertz time-domain spectroscopy(THz-TDS)which enables twenty vibrational modes of adenosine nucleoside to be resolved in a wide frequency range of 1-20 THz.The observed spectroscopic features of adenosine are in good agreement with the published spectra obtained using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR)and Raman spectroscopy.This much extended bandwidth leads to enhanced material characterization capability as it provides spectroscopic information on both intra-and inter-molecular vibrations.In addition,we also report a low-cost frequency modulation continuous wave(FMCW)imaging system which has a fast measurement speed of 40000 waveforms per second.Cross-sectional imaging capability through cardboard has also been demonstrated using its excellent penetration capability at a frequency range of 76-81 GHz.We anticipate that the integration of these two complementary imaging technologies would be highly desirable for many real-world applications because it provides both spectroscopic discrimination and penetration capabilities in a single instrument.

Far-infrared conductivity of CuS nanoparticles measured by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy

This paper reports that terahertz time-domain spectroscopy is used to measure the optical properties of CuS nanoparticles in composite samples. The complex conductivity of pure CuS nanoparticles is extracted by applying the Bruggeman effective medium theory. The experimental data are consistent with the Drude-Smith model of conductivity in the range of 0.2 1.5 THz. The results demonstrate that carriers become localized with a backscattering behaviour in small-size nanostructures. In addition, the time constant for the carrier scattering is obtained and is only 64.3 fs due to increased electron interaction with interfaces and grain boundaries.

Two-Dimensional Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy and Its Applications

In this work, we review the developing progress of two-dimensional terahertz time-domain spectroscopy（THz-TDS） and its diverse applications, including analyzing the polarization of THz radiation from a laser-induced plasma source and studying the corresponding physical mechanism, and characterizing the optical properties of crystals, etc.

Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy and Its Applications

The terahertz time-domain spectroscopy （THz-TDS） system and the related technology and the applications in Capital Normal University are presented. The most often used THz-TDS system as a spectroscopic measurement setup in our lab is introduced in detail, including the THz radiation source, the THz detection method and its measurement, and the control system. THz spectra of various materials is summarized and discussed. These materials include but not limited to two kinds of typical matter-the illegal drugs and explosives. The biological macro-molecules, cosmetics and fine chemical materials, edible pigments and food additives, homocysteic acid and related compounds, heavy ions in soil, Chinese medicines, tobacco and crops, oil and chemical products, carbon nanotubes, superconductors, and various semiconductors and their heterojunctions, are presented. THz emissions from the InAs and InN semiconductors surface are compared. THz spectral investigation of metallic mesh structures is summarized. Finally, an outlook of THz spectroscopic applications is given.

The transmission enhancement of a THz pulse through an Ag/Ag_2 O layer detected by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy

This paper reports a new way to detect the enhanced transmission of a THz electromagnetic wave through an Ag/Ag2O layer by THz-TDS （time-domain spectroscopy）. As the THz beam illuminates the sub-wavelength Ag particles gained by Ag2O thermal decomposition, the evanescent wave is generated. The evanescent wave is coupled by a 500μm-GaAs substrate, which attaches behind the Ag/Ag2O layer, and then it transmits to the far field to be detected. The experimental results indicate that the transmitting amplitude is enhanced, as well as the frequent shifting and spectra broadening.

Investigation of copper sulfate pentahydrate dehydration by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy

Copper sulfate pentahydrate is investigated by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy. It is shown that the terahertz absorption coefficients are correlated with the particle size of the samples, as well as the heating rates of the ambient temperature. Furthermore, the water molecules of copper sulfate pentahydrate can be quantitatively characterized due to the high sensitivity of the terahertz wave to water molecules. Based on such results, the status of water incorporated in mineral opal is also characterized using terahertz time-domain spectroscopy. It indicates that terahertz technology can be considered as an efficient method to detect the dehydration of minerals.

Temperature and Pressure Effects on Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy of Crystalline Methedrine by Molecular Dynamics Simulation

In this study, the terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) of crystalline methedrine, which is one of the illegal drugs, is performed using molecular dynamics simulation by the Fourier transform of time derivative auto-correlation functions of the dipole moment. In order to accurately detect the drugs from samples, it is necessary to build a complete database for terahertz spectra under different external conditions from theoretical calculation, which are hardly obtained from the experiments directly. Our results show remarkable consistency with the available experimental data in the frequency range of 10 - 100 cm-1 indicating that the presented method has significant capability to simulate terahertz spectra at various conditions. We investigated the effects of temperature and pressure on THz-TDS by simulating the system at temperature range between 78.4 K and 400 K at pressures up to 100 atm. Results show the spectral features of THz-TDS both in intensity and profile are highly sensitive to the variation of temperature and with a lower magnitude to the variation of pressure. The vanishing, rebuilding and shifting of spectral peaks are due to the complex mechanisms such as the anharmonicity, shifting in the vibration energy levels, formation and destruction of hydrogen-binding and the deformation of the potential energy surface during the environment changing. This improved our understanding for complicated THz-TDS of crystalline methedrine and would be useful for assignment of the practical measurements.

Different Types of Bone Fractures Observed by Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy

Microcracks are common in compact bone,but their continued propagation can lead to macroscopic fractures.These microcracks cannot be visualized radiographically,necessitating alternative noninvasive methods to identify excessive microcracking and prevent fractures.In this study,terahertz time-domain spectroscopy(THz-TDS)was used to examine bone interiors near cracks resulting from loading in bovine tibia samples.Various loading configurations,such as impact,quasi-static loading,and fatigue loading,known to induce different types of micro-scale damage,were applied.The values of refractive index and absorption coefficient of the bone samples were then determined from the THz-TDS spectra acquired before loading and after fracture.The study revealed that different loading configurations led to varying terahertz optical coefficients associated with various types of bone fractures.Specifically,the refractive index notably increased under fatigue loading but remained relatively stable during quasi-static bending.The absorption coefficient of bone decreased only under fatigue loading.Furthermore,samples were subjected to axial and radial impacts without sustaining damage.Results indicated that in the undamaged state,the change in refractive index was smaller compared to after impact failure,while the change in absorption coefficient remained consistent after failure.Under radial impact loading,changes in refractive index and absorption coefficient were significantly more pronounced than under axial loading.Prior to loading,the measured value of refractive index was 2.72±0.11,and the absorption coefficient was 6.33±0.09 mm^(−1)at 0.5 THz.

Research on Detection of Food additives Based on Terahertz Spectroscopy and Analytic Hierarchy Process

Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy is a kind of far-infrared spectroscopy technology,and its spectrum reflects the internal properties of substances with rich physical and chemical information,so the use of terahertz waves can be used to qualitatively identify food additives containing nitrogen elements.Analytic hierarchy process(AHP)was originally used to solve evaluation-type problems,and this paper introduces it into the field of terahertz spectral qualitative analysis,proposes a terahertz time-domain spectral qualitative identification method combined with analytic hierarchy process,and verifies the feasibility of the method by taking four common food additives(xylitol,L-alanine,sorbic acid,and benzoic acid)and two illegal additives(melamine,and Sudan Red No.I)as the objects of study.Firstly,the collected terahertz time-domain spectral data were pre-processed and transformed into a data set consisting of peaks,peak positions,peak numbers and overall trends;then,the data were divided into comparison and test sets,and a qualitative additive identification model incorporating analytic hierarchy process was constructed and parameter optimisation was performed.The results showed that the qualitative identification accuracies of additives based on single factors,i.e.,overall trend,peak value,peak position,and peak number,were 80.23%,70.93%,67.44%,and 40.70%,respectively,whereas the identification accuracy of the analytic hierarchy process qualitative identification method based on multi-factors could be improved to 92.44%.In addition,the fuzzy characterisation of the absorption spectrum data was binarised in the data pre-processing stage and used as the base data for the overall trend,and the recognition accuracy was improved to 94.19%by combining the fuzzy characterisation method of such data with the hierarchical analysis qualitative recognition model.The results show that it is feasible to use terahertz technology to identify different varieties of additives,and this paper constructs a hierarchical analytical qualitative model with better effect,which provides a new means for food additives detection,and the method is simple in steps,with a small demand for samples,which is suitable for the rapid detection of small samples.

Electronic properties of 2H-stacking bilayer MoS_(2)measured by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy

Bilayer (BL) molybdenum disulfide (MoS_(2)) is one of the most important electronic structures not only in valleytronics but also in realizing twistronic systems on the basis of the topological mosaics in moiré superlattices. In this work, BL MoS_(2) on sapphire substrate with 2H-stacking structure is fabricated. We apply the terahertz (THz) time-domain spectroscopy (TDS) for examining the basic optoelectronic properties of this kind of BL MoS_(2). The optical conductivity of BL MoS_(2) is obtained in temperature regime from 80 K to 280 K. Through fitting the experimental data with the theoretical formula, the key sample parameters of BL MoS_(2) can be determined, such as the electron density, the electronic relaxation time and the electronic localization factor. The temperature dependence of these parameters is examined and analyzed. We find that, similar to monolayer (ML) MoS_(2), BL MoS_(2) with 2H-stacking can respond strongly to THz radiation field and show semiconductor-like optoelectronic features. The theoretical calculations using density functional theory (DFT) can help us to further understand why the THz optoelectronic properties of BL MoS_(2) differ from those observed for ML MoS_(2). The results obtained from this study indicate that the THz TDS can be applied suitably to study the optoelectronic properties of BL MoS_(2) based twistronic systems for novel applications as optical and optoelectronic materials and devices.

Terahertz Spectroscopic Characterization and Thickness Evaluation of Internal Delamination Defects in GFRP Composites

The use of terahertz time-domain spectroscopy(THz-TDS)for the nondestructive testing and evaluation(NDT&E)of materials and structural systems has attracted significant attention over the past two decades due to its superior spatial resolution and capabilities of detecting and characterizing defects and structural damage in non-conducting materials.In this study,the THz-TDS system is used to detect,localize and evaluate hidden multi-delamination defects(i.e.,a three-level multi-delamination system)in multilayered GFRP composite laminates.To obtain accurate results,a wavelet shrinkage de-noising algorithm is used to remove the noise from the measured time-of-flight(TOF)signals.The thickness and location of each delamination defect in the z-direction(i.e.,through-the-thickness direction)are calculated from the de-noised TOF signals considering the interaction between the pulsed THz waves and the different interfaces in the GFRP composite laminates.A comparison between the actual and the measured thickness values of the delamination defects before and after the wavelet shrinkage denoising process indicates that the latter provides better results with less than 3.712%relative error,while the relative error of the non-de-noised signals reaches 16.388%.Also,the power and absorbance levels of the THz waves at every interface with different refractive indices in the GFRP composite laminates are evaluated based on analytical and experimental approaches.The present study provides an adequate theoretical analysis that could help NDT&E specialists to estimate the maximum thickness of GFRP composite materials and/or structures with different interfaces that can be evaluated by the THz-TDS.Also,the accuracy of the obtained results highlights the capabilities of the THz-TDS for the NDT&E of multilayered GFRP composite laminates.

Isotopic analysis based on terahertz spectrum

As a new promising detection technology in the terahertz research field,the terahertz time-domain spec-troscopy(THz-TDS)has very broad application potential in many fields because its advantage on the characteristic spectrum,wide spectrum and non-destructive analysis of interested substances.In this paper,the terahertz absorption spectra of gases mixed with 12 CO and 13 CO in the spec-trum range of 0.5–2.5 THz are measured by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy for the first time.Several isotopo-logues can be clearly distinguished based on the difference in their rotational energies and the consequent terahertz spectrum.The experimental results show that 12 CO and 13 CO have obvious characteristic absorption peaks in the spectrum range of 0.5–2.5 THz due to the difference in rotational energy,and the rotational constant B can be calculated according to the experimental values to distin-guish the two gaseous isotopologues.The frequency posi-tions of the characteristic absorption peak measured by this experiment and the rotation constant B calculated accord-ing to the experimental values are compared with those previous theoretical calculations and experimental results,and they are in good agreement.This result lays a foun-dation for developing more sophisticated terahertz instru-ments to the detection of different isotopologues.

Integrated system of traditional THz time-domain spectroscopy and asynchronous optical sampling

Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy(THz-TDS)system,as a new means of spectral analysis and detection,plays an increasingly pivotal role in basic scientific research.However,owing to the long scanning time of the traditional THz-TDS system and the complex control of the asynchronous optical scanning(ASOPS)system,which requires frequent calibration,we combine traditional THz-TDS and ASOPS systems to form a composite system and propose an all-fiber trigger signal generation method based on the time overlapping interference signal generated by the collinear motion of two laser pulses.Finally,the time-domain and frequency-domain spectra are obtained by using two independent systems in the integrated systems.It is found that the full width at half maximum(FWHM)of the time-domain spectra and the spectral width of the frequency-domain spectra are almost the same,but the sampling speed of the ASOPS system is significantly faster than that of the traditional THz-TDS system,which conduces to the study of the transient characteristics of substances.

Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy of some pentoses

The well-resolved absorption spectra of D-xylose,D-ribose,D-arabinose,D-lyxose and other related substances in the spectral region between 0.3 and 2.0 THz are measured using tera-hertz time-domain spectroscopy(THz-TDS)at 295 K.Comparing the absorption spectra of different chemicals,we can distinguish the samples easily.Thus THz-TDS is demonstrated to be a power and characteristic spectral tool,which is highly sensitive to the minor changes of the molecular structures and can be applied to detect and analyze similar materials.

The guanidine hydrochloride-induced denaturation of CP43 and CP47 studied by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy

Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) is a new technique in studying the conformational state of a molecule in recent years. In this work, we reported the first use of THz-TDS to examine the dena- turation of two photosynthesis membrane proteins: CP43 and CP47. THz-TDS was proven to be useful in discriminating the different conformational states of given proteins with similar structure and in monitoring the denaturation process of proteins. Upon treatment with guanidine hydrochloride (GuHCl), a 1.8 THz peak appeared for CP47 and free chlorophyll a (Chl a). This peak was deemed to originate from the interaction between Chl a and GuHCl molecules. The Chl a molecules in CP47 interacted with GuHCl more easily than those in CP43.

Detecting NO3- concentration in nitrate solutions using terahertz time-domain spectroscopy

In this paper, we employed terahertz time domain spectroscopy （THz-TDS） to investigate the nitrate 0 concentration in four types of nitrate solution （sodium nitrate, aluminum nitrate, calcium nitrate and magnesium nitrate）. Their absorption coefficient and refractive index were calculated in 0.2-2.5THz, and a logarithmic relationship was observed between NO3 concentrations and selected optical parameters regardless of the kinds of nitrate solution. Partial least square （PLS） model was built between THz-TDS and NO3 concentration. The correlation coefficient of PLS model was calculated. The results make the quantitative analysis of NO3 concentration possible by THz-TDS and indicate the bright future in practical application.

Identifying PM2.5 samples collected in different environment by using terahertz time-domain spectroscopy

Particulate matter with the diameter of less than 2.5 μm （PM2.5） is the most important causation of air pollution. In this study, PM2.5 samples were collected in three different environment including ordinary atmo- spheric environment, lampblack environment and the environment with an air conditioning exhaust fan, and analyzed by using terahertz time-domain spectroscopy （THz-TDS）. The linear regression analysis and the principal component analysis （PCA） are used to identify PM2.5 samples collected in different environment. The results indicate that combining THz-TDS with statistical methods can serve as a contactless and efficient approach to identify air pollutants in different environment.

Quantitative determination of n-heptane and n-octane using terahertz time-domain spectroscopy with chemometrics methods

This paper introduces the terahertz time- domain spectroscopy （THz-TDS） used for the quantitative detection of n-heptane volume ratios in 41 n-heptane and n-octane mixtures with the concentration range of 0-100% at the intervals of 2.5%. Among 41 samples, 33 were used for calibration and the remaining 8 tbr validation. Models of chemometrics methods, including partial least squares （PLS） and back propagation-artificial neural network （BP-ANN）, were built between the THz- TDS and the n-heptane percentage. To evaluate the quality of the built models, we calculated the correlation coefficient （R） and root-mean-square errors （RMSE） of calibration and validation models. R and RMSE of two methods were close to 1 and 0 within acceptable levels, respectively, demonstrating that the combination of THz- TDS and chemometrics methods is a potential and promising tool for further quantitative detection of n- alkanes.

Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy and micro-cavity components for probing samples: a review

We give a brief review of the developments in terahertz time-domain spectroscopy(THz-TDS) systems and microcavity components for probing samples in the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology. The broadband terahertz(THz) radiation sources based on GaAs m-i-n diodes have been investigated by applying high electric fields. Then, the free space THz-TDS and fiber-coupled THz-TDS systems produced in our lab and their applications in drug/cancer detection are introduced in detail. To further improve the signal-to-noise ratio(SNR) and enhance sensitivity, we introduce three general micro-cavity approaches to achieve tiny-volume sample detection, summarizing our previous results about their characteristics, performance, and potential applications.

Research on terahertz time-domain spectroscopy methodology of liquid samples

Terahertz(THz) time-domain spectroscopy(TDS) has been applied to investigate liquid's optical property in recent years.However,comprehensive discussion of how to compute liquids' complex refractive indices and absorption rates are seldom reported.So,in this work,we try to find a way to compute liquids' optical property accurately and conveniently.