Terahertz scanning imaging with a subwavelength plastic fiber

Abstract

The feasibility to perform fiber-scanning terahertz imaging utilizing a terahertz subwavelength plastic fiber is investigated. Our study shows that, with a low (<1%) fractional power inside the fiber core, the bending loss of the terahertz subwavelength fiber is acceptable to enable large area scanning without seriously sacrificing the signal-to-noise ratio of the acquired image. With a transmission geometry, this feasibility is demonstrated by direct two-dimensional scanning of the terahertz subwavelength fiber output end to image different biological samples and concealed substances.