Sub-wavelength near field imaging techniques at terahertz frequencies

Maria Caterina Giordano; Leonardo Viti; Oleg Mitrofanov; Gaetano Scamarcio; Stefan Mastel; Rainer Hillenbrand; Daniele Ercolani; Lucia Sorba; Miriam S. Vitiello

doi:10.1117/12.2291518

26 January 2018 Sub-wavelength near field imaging techniques at terahertz frequencies

Maria Caterina Giordano, Leonardo Viti, Oleg Mitrofanov, Gaetano Scamarcio, Stefan Mastel, Rainer Hillenbrand, Daniele Ercolani, Lucia Sorba, Miriam S. Vitiello

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 10540, Quantum Sensing and Nano Electronics and Photonics XV; 105400N (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2291518
Event: SPIE OPTO, 2018, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

Near-field imaging techniques at terahertz (THz) frequencies are severely restricted by diffraction. To date, different detection schemes have been developed, based either on sub-wavelength metallic apertures or on sharp metallic tips. However high-resolution THz imaging, so far, has been relying predominantly on detection techniques that require either an ultrafast laser or a cryogenically-cooled THz detector, at the expenses of a lack of sensitivity when high resolution levels are needed. Here, we demonstrate two novel near-field THz imaging techniques able to combine strongly sub-wavelength spatial resolution with highly sensitive amplitude and phase detection capability. The first technique exploits an interferometric optical setup based on a THz quantum cascade laser (QCL) and on a near-field probe nanodetector, operating at room temperature. By performing phase-sensitive imaging of THz intensity patterns we demonstrate the potential of our novel architecture for coherent imaging with sub-wavelength spatial resolution improved up to 17 μm. The second technique is a detector-less s-SNOM system, exploiting a THz QCL as source and detector simultaneously. This approach enables amplitude- and phase-sensitive imaging by self-mixing interferometry with spatial resolution of 60-70 nm.

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Maria Caterina Giordano, Leonardo Viti, Oleg Mitrofanov, Gaetano Scamarcio, Stefan Mastel, Rainer Hillenbrand, Daniele Ercolani, Lucia Sorba, and Miriam S. Vitiello "Sub-wavelength near field imaging techniques at terahertz frequencies", Proc. SPIE 10540, Quantum Sensing and Nano Electronics and Photonics XV, 105400N (26 January 2018); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2291518

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