Phase-less Synthetic Aperture Radar for 3D Terahertz Imaging Inspired by Optical Coherence Tomography

We present a phase-less synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging technique for the terahertz range, inspired by optical coherence tomography. Instead of relying upon phase-sensitive detection, spatial information is extracted from frequency dependent intensity spectra. Despite discarding phase information, we achieve comparable resolution (~1.8 mm) to coherent SAR, while significantly reducing image artifacts. The experiments are conducted with a vector network analyzer as proof of concept. This approach simplifies terahertz imaging hardware and enhances robustness against system imperfections.