US 2010/0148069 A1 · INFORMATION ACQUISITION APPARATUS AND INFORMATION ACQUISITION METHOD USING TERAHERTZ WAVE FOR ACQUIRING INFORMATION ON OBJECT

Abstract

An information acquisition apparatus includes a pulse generator 9, a detector 10, a first delay unit 15, a second delay unit 16 and a computation unit. The pulse generator 9 is excited by a first laser beam to generate a terahertz wave in the form of a pulse. The detector 10 is excited by a second laser beam coherent to the first laser beam to detect the terahertz wave from object 2 that is irradiated with the pulse of the terahertz wave. The first delay unit 15 changes the delay time in such a way that the detector 10 can detect the pulse signal of the terahertz wave from the object 2. The second delay unit 16 changes the delay time by not greater than the temporal width of the pulse signal detected by the detector 10. The computation unit computationally determines the information on the temporal position of the peak of the pulse signal of the terahertz wave from the object 2 according to the information of the signal detected by the detector 10 when the delay time is changed by the second delay unit within the delay time of the first delay unit.

Claims8

Dependent claims

An information acquisition apparatus for acquiring information on an object by means of a terahertz wave, comprising:

a generator adapted to be excited by a first beam of light to generate a terahertz wave pulse;
a detector adapted to be excited by a second beam of light coherent to the first beam of light to detect a reflected or transmitted terahertz wave pulse from the object;
a first delay unit for altering a light path of the second beam of light to delay a timing of detection of the terahertz wave pulse by the detector;
a second delay unit for altering the light path of the second beam of light, the second delay unit moving faster than the first delay unit;
and
a waveform acquiring unit for acquiring a temporal waveform of the terahertz wave pulse detected by the detector, using the first delay unit,
wherein the second delay unit moves reciprocally with an amplitude not greater than a distance corresponding to a temporal width of the pulse signal detected by the detector to modulate the timing delayed by the first delay unit.

4 more elements

An information acquisition method of acquiring information on an object by means of a terahertz wave, comprising:

a generation step of excitation by a first beam of light to generate a terahertz wave pulse;
a detection step of excitation by a second beam of light coherent to the first beam of light to detect a reflected or transmitted terahertz wave pulse from the object;
a first delay step of altering a light path of the second beam of light to delay a timing of detection of the terahertz wave pulse in the detection step;
a second delay step of altering the light path of the second beam of light, the light path of the second beam of light moving faster than in the first delay step;
and
a waveform acquiring step of acquiring a temporal waveform of the terahertz wave pulse detected in the detection step, using the timing delayed in the first delay step,
wherein the light path of the second beam of light moves reciprocally in the second delay step with an amplitude not greater than a distance corresponding to a temporal width of the pulse signal detected in the detection step to modulate the timing delayed in the first delay step.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Information acquisition apparatus and information acquisition method using terahertz wave for acquiring information on object

Life of this patent

Information acquisition apparatus and information acquisition method using terahertz wave for acquiring information on object

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims8