Terahertz scanning imaging with a subwavelength plastic fiber

The feasibility to perform terahertz imaging utilizing a terahertz subwavelength plastic fiber is investigated. Dour study shows that, With a low (<1%) fractional power inside the fiber score, the bending loss of the terahertz subwavelength fiber is acceptable to enable large area scanning without seriously sacrificing the signal-to-noise ratio of the acquired image. With a transmission geometry, this feasibility is demonstrated by direct two-dimensional scanning of the terahertz subwavelength fiber output end to image different biological samples and concealed substances. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.