THz media characterization by means of coherent homodyne detection, results and potential applications

This paper describes the performance of a coherent homodyne spectrometer to preserve phase information of the THz electric field. Thereby, optical constants of a high resistive silicon sample are presented between 200 GHz and 1.2 THz. The phase shift introduced by such a thick sample is much greater than 2π, and the manner of solving the ambiguity of the modulo 2π is discussed and can be used to surround the refractive index mainly at high frequency where the signal to noise ratio decreases. The analysis of the coherent homodyne signal as a function as the frequency at a fixed delay line permits deduction of sample thickness or measurement of distance without any mechanical displacement, and so facilitates potential ranging and tomography studies. PACS 73.40.sx; 33.20.Bx; 39.30.+w