Stand-off passive THz imaging at 8-meter stand-off distance: results from a 64-channel real-time imager

Abstract

At present, the imaging of concealed weapons and contraband is primarily carried out at a relatively short stand-off range of a few meters mainly because of spatial resolution considerations. In order to maintain a reasonable aperture size, there is a desire to extend the operating frequency towards 1 THz. In this paper we report the progress on a video-rate THz camera demonstrator which utilizes broadband antenna-coupled microbolometers as detectors, operated within a turnkey commercial closed-cycle cryocooler. A full system has been integrated consisting of 64 parallel sensors and readout electronics, and reflective Schmidt camera optics incorporating a conical scanner for real time imaging.