Advances in Terahertz Detection and Imaging

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Background

Terahertz waves have many unique properties and show promising applications in various fields, such as astronomy, communication, biomedicine, and security inspection. Terahertz detection is one of the key technologies for realizing terahertz applications in practice. Detecting the amplitude, phase, spectroscopic, temporal, or polarization information of terahertz waves interacting with matter may reveal rich physical phenomena. Furthermore, imaging with terahertz waves allows the millimeter or submillimeter structure features and even the chemical composition of an object to be spatially resolved, benefiting from the advantages of this frequency range in terms of good penetration, appropriate wavelength and fingerprint spectrum. Terahertz detection and imaging are two fundamental and hot topics in the development of terahertz science and technology, and a series of significant advances have emerged in recent years.

Historically, detections of terahertz waves were difficult due to the cut-off frequency of conventional electronic devices and the bandgap limitation of conventional photonic devices. After years of development, exciting achievements have been made in terahertz detection techniques. Various detection mechanisms, novel photoactive materials, optimized device structure design and refined fabrication process promote the improvement of terahertz detector performance, including sensitivity, speed, bandwidth, working temperature, etc. With the advent of high-performance detector units and focal plane array, fast or real-time terahertz imaging with superior image quality and large field of view is possible, and imaging systems constructed for radar, personnel screening and non-destructive evaluation have been successfully demonstrated or even commercially available. This Research Topic aims to present state-of-the-art research advances in the physics, method, device and system of terahertz detection and imaging. New physical mechanisms and device concepts beyond conventional thermal, electronics or photonics-based terahertz detectors will be highlighted. Promising new imaging modalities, such as single-pixel, near-field, super-resolution, hyperspectral, and tomographic imaging, may also be involved.

This Research Topic is devoted to sharing important discoveries, theoretical and experimental advances, technical breakthroughs, methodological innovation and application development in the fields of terahertz detection and imaging. Authors are welcomed to contribute submissions of Original Research and Reviews in the themes including but not limited to:

- Terahertz wave interaction with matter
- Terahertz detection theory and devices
- Terahertz imaging methods and systems
- Applications of terahertz detection and imaging techniques

Keywords: terahertz waves, detection mechanism, detector performance, imaging modalities, imaging applications

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