Journal Article

Review of Terahertz Tomography Techniques

Recur, B., Canioni, L., Frederique, L., Mounaix, P., Desbarats, P., Manek-Hönninger, I, Guillet, J. P., Bousquet, B.

2014

Overview

Terahertz and millimeter waves penetrate various dielectric materials, including plastics, ceramics, crystals, and concrete, allowing terahertz transmission and reflection images to be considered as a new imaging tool complementary to X-Ray or Infrared. Terahertz imaging is a well-established technique in various laboratory and industrial applications. However, these images are often two-dimensional. Three-dimensional, transmission-mode imaging is limited to thin samples, due to the absorption of the sample accumulated in the propagation direction. A tomographic imaging procedure can be used to acquire and to render three-dimensional images in the terahertz frequency range, as in the optical, infrared or X-ray regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. In this paper, after a brief introduction to two dimensional millimeter waves and terahertz imaging we establish the principles of tomography for Terahertz Computed tomography (CT), tomosynthesis (TS), synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and time-of-flight (TOF) terahertz tomography. For each technique, we present advantages, drawbacks and limitations for imaging the internal structure of an object.

• Publisher: Springer US,Springer Nature B.V,Springer Verlag
• Subject: Classical Electrodynamics / Computed tomography / Dielectrics / Electrical Engineering / Electronics and Microelectronics / Engineering / Frequency ranges / Image acquisition / Image transmission / Imaging / Industrial applications / Infrared / Infrared imaging / Instrumentation / Instrumentation industry / Invited Review Article / Medical imaging / Millimeter waves / Optics / Physics / Polymers / Synthetic aperture radar / Terahertz frequencies / Three dimensional / Tomography / X ray spectra / X-rays