Rapid photonic THz continuous wave compressive imaging with super-resolution over a large field of view

Terahertz (THz) waves play a crucial role in numerous imaging applications, from industrial inspection to medical diagnostics. However, most current THz imaging techniques operate in the pulsed mode, remaining entrenched in the “super-resolution versus practical-level frame rate” dilemma. In this work, we present system-level rapid, super-resolution, and large-field-of-view THz compressive imaging. In the system, by implementing high-speed sampling with low phase noise through CW radiation based on an optical frequency comb, and exploring a VO 2 /mica film THz spatial modulator with advanced trigger threshold (0.37mJ/cm 2 ) and higher modulation depth (80.4%), we simultaneously break the long-standing trade-off between spatial resolution and temporal speed in THz imaging systems. We experimentally achieve rapid super-resolution THz compressed sensing (CS) imaging with a super-resolution (< λ /65) at video-frame rates (2 fps) over a large field of view of 100mm 2 . This work represents a significant step toward application-oriented THz imaging, and holds tremendous promise in biomedical diagnostics, nondestructive testing, and pharmaceutical industries.