Continuous-wave terahertz digital holographic tomography with a pyroelectric array detector

Terahertz computed tomography makes use of the penetrability of terahertz radiation and obtains three-dimensional (3-D) object projection data. Continuous-wave terahertz digital holographic tomography with a pyroelectric array detector is presented. Compared with scanning terahertz computed tomography, a pyroelectric array detector can obtain a large quantity of projection data in a short time. To obtain a 3-D image, in-line digital holograms of the object are recorded from various directions and reconstructed to obtain two-dimensional (2-D) projection data; then 2-D cross-sectional images and 3-D images of the internal structure of the object are obtained by the filtered back projection algorithm. The presented system can rapidly reconstruct the 3-D object and reveals the internal 3-D structure of the object. A 3-D reconstruction of a polyethylene straw is presented with a 6% error in retrieved diameter.