Analysis of phase contrast imaging of terahertz phonon-polaritons

We analyze three different techniques, namely, interferometry, polarization gating, and the Talbot effect to record two-dimensional images of propagating coherent terahertz waveforms in LiNbO3. Polarization gating yields significant improvements in the accuracy of waveform reproduction and sensitivity compared to Talbot imaging, which has been extensively used to date. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America.