Terahertz heterodyne imaging with InGaAs-based bow-tie diodes

Room-temperature detection and imaging in transmission and reflection geometries at 0.591 THz with planar asymmetrically shaped InGaAs diodes (also called bow-tie diodes) are demonstrated in direct and heterodyne mode. The sensitivity of the diodes is found to be 6 V/W in direct mode, and the noise-equivalent power (NEP) in direct and heterodyne mode is estimated to be about 4 nW/root Hz and 230 fW/Hz for a local-oscillator power of 11 mu W, respectively. The improvement of the dynamic range by heterodyning over direct power detection amounts to about 20 dB using pixel read-out times relevant to real-time imaging conditions. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3641907]