Photonic Integrated Terahertz Imager

This scientific paper is an outcome of the MARIE collaborative research center (for more information, see trrmarie.de) project C07. The paper discusses the development of photonic integrated circuits (PICs) for THz imaging in the WR3.4 band. First, a THz transmitter using a MUTC-PD with a saturation THz output power of ~500 μW at 0.3 THz is presented. In addition, a novel 2D photonic THz beam steering chip technology are presented using a LWA array with either a THz beamforming network or an optical beamforming network (OBFN) based on SiN/SiO2. Experimentally, maximum steering angles up to 62° and 39° are achieved for 1D and 2D THz beam steering, respectively. Second, the paper discusses InGaAs photoconductor receiver arrays integrated with OBFN-PICs. Furthermore, two dual-wavelength PICs are demonstrated, each is optimized for a large continuous tune range of the difference frequency or fast difference frequency modulation.