Fast continuous terahertz wave imaging system for security

Continuous terahertz wave (CW THz) has been widely used in imaging field. However, the speed of imaging calls for an improvement for security screening since the speed of previous CW imaging systems which scan point to point is too slow to be applied in security field. To increase the imaging speed. we proposed a fast CW-THz imaging system in which a galvanometer is introduced. The galvanometer makes the beams reflected in different angles by vibrating at a certain frequency which can significantly decrease the image acquisition time compared to traditional CW-THz imaging system. Furthermore, the system is compact due to source and detector of small size. Examples of measurements of concealed weapons are presented and discussed. Ideal results of better resolution are obtained. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.