PCA Scanner THz Imaging Spectrometer, Portable, > 5 THz

Overview

The PCA Scanner is a fibre-coupled photoconductive antenna terahertz time-domain spectrometer built for work outside a stable optical laboratory. It covers beyond 5 THz with better than 75 dB dynamic range as standard, extends to beyond 6 THz and past 100 dB with options, and reaches better than 60 dB in under ten seconds of acquisition.

Real-time imaging instead of raster scanning

A conventional terahertz imaging system builds a picture by moving the sample point by point through a focus, which turns a single image into hours of acquisition. Pairing the spectrometer with a microbolometer camera replaces that raster scan with a direct exposure, so an image is captured in about a second. For any application where the sample is large, moves, or simply cannot wait, that is the difference between a feasible measurement and an impractical one.

Built to leave the lab

The enclosure is aluminium as standard and titanium as an option, and the instrument is designed to be transported and used in the field rather than bolted to an optical table. That opens applications that laboratory spectrometers cannot reach: drone-borne aerial inspection, in-situ measurement of structures, and survey work in environments where bringing the sample to the instrument is not possible.

Configuration options

The instrument can be supplied in transmission, in reflection with an optional angular scan, as dual transmission or dual reflection, with two spectroscopy units, or in a real-time imaging configuration. The terahertz relay optics can be off-axis parabolic mirrors for achromatic performance or TPX lenses for compactness. Applications include terahertz spectroscopy, non-destructive testing and quality control, and layer thickness measurement.