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Abstract In recent years, handheld and portable terahertz instruments have been in rapid development for various applications ranging from non-destructive testing to biomedical imaging and sensing. For instance, we have deployed our Portable Handheld Spectral Reflection (PHASR) Scanners for in vivo full-spectroscopic imaging of skin burns in large animal models in operating room settings. In this paper, we debut the polarimetric version of the PHASR Scanner, and describe a generalized calibration technique to map the spatial and spectral dependence of the Jones matrix of an imaging scanner across its field of view. Our design is based on placement of two orthogonal photoconductive antenna (PCA) detectors separated by a polarizing beam splitter in the PHASR Scanner housing. We show that as few as three independent measurements of a well-characterized polarimetric calibration target are sufficient to determine the polarization state of the incident beam at the sample location, as well as to extract the Jones propagation matrix from the sample location to the detectors. We have tested the accuracy of our scanner by validating polarimetric measurements obtained from a birefringent crystal rotated to various angles, as compared to the theoretically predicted response of the sample. This new version of our PHASR scanner can be used for high-speed imaging and investigation of heterogeneity of polarization-sensitive samples in the field.

Recent advancements in novel fiber-coupled and portable terahertz (THz) spectroscopic imaging technology have accelerated applications in nondestructive testing (NDT). Although the polarization information of THz waves can play a critical role in material characterization, there are few demonstrations of polarization-resolved THz imaging as an NDT modality due to the deficiency of such polarimetric imaging devices. In this paper, we have inspected industrial carbon fiber composites using a portable and handheld imaging scanner in which the THz polarizations of two orthogonal channels are simultaneously captured by two photoconductive antennas. We observed significant polarimetric differences between the two-channel images of the same sample and the resulting THz Stokes vectors, which are attributed to the anisotropic conductivity of carbon fiber composites. Using both polarimetric channels, we can visualize the superficial and underlying interfaces of the first laminate. These results pave the way for the future applications of THz polarimetry to the assessment of coatings or surface quality on carbon fiber-reinforced substrates.

Abstract We present an automatic classification strategy for early and accurate assessment of burn injuries using terahertz (THz) time-domain spectroscopic imaging. Burn injuries of different severity grades, representing superficial partial-thickness (SPT), deep partial-thickness (DPT), and full-thickness (FT) wounds, were created by a standardized porcine scald model. THz spectroscopic imaging was performed using our new fiber-coupled Portable HAndheld Spectral Reflection Scanner, incorporating a telecentric beam steering configuration and an f- $$\theta$$ θ scanning lens. ASynchronous Optical Sampling in a dual-fiber-laser THz spectrometer with 100 MHz repetition rate enabled high-speed spectroscopic measurements. Given twenty-four different samples composed of ten scald and ten contact burns and four healthy samples, supervised machine learning algorithms using THz-TDS spectra achieved areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves of 0.88, 0.93, and 0.93 when differentiating between SPT, DPT, and FT burns, respectively, as determined by independent histological assessments. These results show the potential utility of our new broadband THz PHASR Scanner for early and accurate triage of burn injuries.

Abstract Current terahertz (THz) spectroscopy techniques only use the coherent light beam for spectral imaging. In the presence of electromagnetic scattering, however, the scattering-mitigated incoherent beams allow for flexible emitter-detector geometries, which enable applications such as seeing through turbid media. Despite this potential, THz spectroscopy using diffuse waves has not been demonstrated. The main obstacles are the very poor signal to noise ratios of the diffused fields and the resonance-like spectral artifacts due to multiple Mie scattering events that obscure the material absorption signatures. In this work, we demonstrate diffuse THz spectroscopy of a heterogeneous sample through turbid media using a novel technique based on the wavelet multiresolution analysis and the bimodality coefficient spectrum, which we define here for the first time using the skewness and kurtosis of the spectral images. The proposed method yields broadband and simultaneous material characterization at detection angles as high as 90° with respect to the incident beam. We determined the accuracy of the wavelet-based diffuse spectroscopy at oblique detection angles, by evaluating the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves, to be higher than 95%. This technique is agnostic to any a priori information on the spectral signatures of the sample materials or the characteristics of the scattering medium, and can be expanded for other broadband spectroscopic modalities.

The accuracy of clinical assessment techniques in diagnosing partial‐thickness burn injuries has remained as low as 50–76%. Depending on the burn depth and environmental factors in the wound, such as reactive oxygen species, inflammation, and autophagy, partial‐thickness burns can heal spontaneously or require surgical intervention. Herein, it is demonstrated that terahertz time‐domain spectral imaging (THz‐TDSI) is a promising tool for in vivo quantitative assessment and monitoring of partial‐thickness burn injuries in large animals. We used a novel handheld THz‐TDSI scanner to characterize burn injuries in a porcine scald model with histopathological controls. Statistical analysis (n = 40) indicates that the THz‐TDSI modality can accurately differentiate between partial‐thickness and full‐thickness burn injuries (1‐way ANOVA, p

We present the development and implementation of a novel wavelet shrinkage technique for the retrieval of obscured characteristic resonant signatures in the scattered terahertz (THz) reflectivity of molecular crystals. In this implementation, the wavelet basis functions associated with the absorption features were identified using the second-order total variation of the wavelet coefficients. Additionally, wavelet coefficients at certain scales were modified using the phase function corrections and wavelet hard thresholding. Reconstruction of the original spectra using these modified wavelet coefficients yielded the exact resonant frequencies of the chemicals, which were otherwise unrecognizable in the spectral artifacts of the rough surface scattering. We examined the robustness of this method over controlled levels of rough surface scattering, validated using the Kirchhoff approximation, in spectroscopic targets made from α-lactose monohydrate and 4-aminobenzoic acid (PABA), which have close spectral lines. We successfully retrieved the spectral absorption fingerprints in both specular and off-specular reflection geometries. This technique can be utilized for stand-off material characterization using the THz reflection spectroscopy in uncontrolled environments and potentially can be adopted for other broadband spectroscopic modalities.

We report on the development and characterization of a handheld terahertz (THz) time-domain spectroscopic scanner for broadband imaging between approximately 0.25 and 1.25 THz. We designed and fabricated a 3D-printed fiber-coupled housing which provides an alignment-free strategy for the placement and operation of the THz optics. Image formation is achieved through telecentric beam steering over a planar surface through a custom f-θ scanning lens. This design achieves a consistent resolution over the full 12 × 19 mm field of view. Broadband spectral imaging is demonstrated using a 1951 United States Air Force Resolution Test Target. The consistency of the resolution over the wide field is validated through Boehler Star resolution measurements. Finally, a practical scenario of subsurface imaging on a damaged section of an aircraft wing is demonstrated. The THz PHASR is a field-deployable imaging system with the versatility to be applied to a much broader range of targets and imaging scenarios than previously possible, from industrial non-destructive testing to clinical diagnostic imaging.

Telecentric beam scanning using f-θ lenses offers nearly uniform spot size, linear beam displacement, and normal incidence angle over a planar surface. These unique properties allow for the minimization of imaging distortion over a wide field-of-view. In this article, we present a numerical method for designing custom f-θ lenses in the THz regime. We fabricated three lenses made from different commonly used polymer materials in the THz optics. We demonstrated their optical performance metrics compared to a conventional plano-convex lens over the broadband 0.3 THz–1 THz range. We find that the f-θ lens designed using the optical properties of high-density polyethylene achieved superior performance by maintaining a constant phase over a wide field of view of about 34°. We demonstrate this isophase property by measuring a constant time of arrival of the THz time-domain pulses over a reference mirror with a standard deviation of ∼19 fs, in excellent agreement with simulation predictions. This work will pave the way for the design and implementation of highly precise and fast telecentric imaging systems in the THz frequencies.

Terahertz (THz) imaging is a widely used technique in the study and detection of many chemicals and biomolecules in polycrystalline form because the spectral absorption signatures of these target materials often lie in the THz frequencies. When the size of dielectric grain boundaries are comparable to the THz wavelengths, spectral features can be obscured due to electromagnetic scattering. In this study, we first investigate this granular scattering effect in identification of chemicals with THz spectral absorption features. We then will propose a signal processing technique in the so-called "quefrency" domain to improve the ability to resolve these spectral features in the diffuse scattered THz images. We created a pellet with α-lactose monohydrate and riboflavin, two biologically significant materials with well-known vibrational spectral resonances, and buried the pellet in a highly scattering medium. THz transmission measurements were taken at all angles covering the half focal plane. We show that, while spectral features of lactose and riboflavin cannot be distinguished in the scattered image, application of cepstrum filtering can mitigate these scattering effects. By employing our quefrency-domain signal processing technique, we were able to unambiguously detect the dielectric resonance of lactose in the diffused scattering geometries. Finally we will discuss the limitation of the new proposed technique in spectral identification of chemicals.

The initial assessment of the depth of a burn injury during triage forms the basis for determination of the course of the clinical treatment plan. However, severe skin burns are highly dynamic and hard to predict. This results in a low accuracy rate of about 60 - 75% in the diagnosis of partial-thickness burns in the acute post-burn period. Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) has demonstrated a significant potential for non-invasive and timely estimation of the burn severity. Here, we describe a methodology for the measurement and numerical modeling of the dielectric permittivity of the in vivo porcine skin burns. We use the double Debye dielectric relaxation theory to model the permittivity of the burned tissue. We further investigate the origins of dielectric contrast between the burns of various severity, as determined histologically based on the percentage of the burned dermis, using the empirical Debye parameters. We demonstrate that the five parameters of the double Debye model can form an artificial neural network classification algorithm capable of automatic diagnosis of the severity of the burn injuries, and predicting its ultimate wound healing outcome by forecasting its re-epithelialization status in 28 days. Our results demonstrate that the Debye dielectric parameters provide a physics-based approach for the extraction of the biomedical diagnostic markers from the broadband THz pulses. This method can significantly boost dimensionality reduction of THz training data in artificial intelligence models and streamline machine learning algorithms., Competing Interests: MHA discloses intellectual property owned by the University of Washington, US Patent No. US9295402B1 [86]. Other authors declare no conflicts of interest., (© 2023 Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Optica Open Access Publishing Agreement.)

Thermal injuries can occur due to direct exposure to hot objects or liquids, flames, electricity, solar energy and several other sources. If the resulting injury is a deep partial thickness burn, the accuracy of a physician's clinical assessment is as low as 50-76% in determining the healing outcome. In this study, we show that the Terahertz Portable Handheld Spectral Reflection (THz-PHASR) Scanner combined with a deep neural network classification algorithm can accurately differentiate between partial-, deep partial-, and full-thickness burns 1-hour post injury, regardless of the etiology, scanner geometry, or THz spectroscopy sampling method (ROC-AUC = 91%, 88%, and 86%, respectively). The neural network diagnostic method simplifies the classification process by directly using the pre-processed THz spectra and removing the need for any hyperspectral feature extraction. Our results show that deep learning methods based on THz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) measurements can be used to guide clinical treatment plans based on objective and accurate classification of burn injuries., Competing Interests: P: MHA discloses intellectual property owned by the University of Washington, US Patent No. US9295402B1 [81]., (© 2022 Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Optica Open Access Publishing Agreement.)

We have developed a terahertz time-domain polarimetry (THz-TDP) system by applying frequency modulation to electro-optic sampling detection in a nonlinear crystal. We characterized the precision of this system in determining the polarization angles to be 1.3 ° for fixed time delay, and 0.5 ° for complete time-domain waveform. Furthermore, we calculated the Jones matrix of the optical components used for beam propagation to calibrate the induced systematic error. The advantages of employing this calibration approach are demonstrated on a sapphire crystal investigated at different sample test positions in transmission configuration, and using high resistivity Si, AlN and quartz in reflection geometry. The new THz-TDP technique has the advantage of not using any external polarizers, and therefore is not constrained by their optical performance limitations, such as restricted bandwidths and frequency-dependent extinction ratio. Finally, the THz-TDP technique can be easily implemented on existing time-domain spectroscopy (TDS) systems.