Apertureless near-field terahertz imaging using the self-mixing effect in a quantum cascade laser

We report two-dimensional apertureless near-field terahertz (THz) imaging using a quantum cascade laser (QCL) source and a scattering probe. A near-field enhancement of the scattered field amplitude is observed for small tip-sample separations, allowing image resolutions of similar to 1 mu m (similar to lambda/100) and similar to 7 mu m to be achieved along orthogonal directions on the sample surface. This represents the highest resolution demonstrated to date with a THz QCL. By employing a detection scheme based on self-mixing interferometry, our approach offers experimental simplicity by removing the need for an external detector and also provides sensitivity to the phase of the reinjected field. (C) 2016 Author(s).