Hungyen Lin

T-Ray Sensing and Imaging

T-ray wavelengths are long enough to pass through dry, nonpolar objects opaque at visible wavelengths, but short enough to be manipulated by optical components to form an image. Sensing in this band potentially provides advantages in a number of areas of interest to security and defense such as screening of personnel for hidden objects and the retection of chemical and biological agents. Several private companies are developing smaller, reliable cheaper systems allowing for commercialization and this motivates us to review a number of promising applications within this paper. While there are a number of challenges to be overcome there is little doubt that T-ray technology will play a significant role in the near future for advancement of security, public health, and defense.

Uncertainty in terahertz time-domain spectroscopy measurement

Measurements of optical constants at terahertz—or T-ray—frequencies have been performed extensively using terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS). Spectrometers, together with physical models explaining the interaction between a sample and T-ray radiation, are progressively being developed. Nevertheless, measurement errors in the optical constants, so far, have not been systematically analyzed. This situation calls for a comprehensive analysis of measurement uncertainty in THz-TDS systems. The sources of error existing in a terahertz spectrometer and throughout the parameter estimation process are identified. The analysis herein quantifies the impact of each source on the output optical constants. The resulting analytical model is evaluated against experimental THz-TDS data.

Elastomeric silicone substrates for terahertz fishnet metamaterials

In this work, we characterize the electromagnetic properties of polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS) and use this as a free-standing substrate for the realization of flexible fishnet metamaterials at terahertz frequencies. Across the 0.2–2.5 THz band, the refractive index and absorption coefficient of PDMS are estimated as 1.55 and 0–22 cm−1, respectively. Electromagnetic modeling, multi-layer flexible electronics microfabrication, and terahertz time-domain spectroscopy are used in the design, fabrication, and characterization of the metamaterials, respectively. The properties of PDMS add a degree of freedom to terahertz metamaterials, with the potential for tuning by elastic deformation or integrated microfluidics.

Graphene based plasmonic terahertz amplitude modulator operating above 100 MHz

The terahertz (THz) region of the electromagnetic spectrum holds great potential in many fields of study, from spectroscopy to biomedical imaging, remote gas sensing, and high speed communication. To fully exploit this potential, fast optoelectronic devices such as amplitude and phase modulators must be developed. In this work, we present a room temperature external THz amplitude modulator based on plasmonic bow-tie antenna arrays with graphene. By applying a modulating bias to a back gate electrode, the conductivity of graphene is changed, which modifies the reflection characteristics of the incoming THz radiation. The broadband response of the device was characterized by using THz time-domain spectroscopy, and the modulation characteristics such as the modulation depth and cut-off frequency were investigated with a 2.0 THz single frequency emission quantum cascade laser. An optical modulation cut-off frequency of 105 ± 15 MHz is reported. The results agree well with a lumped element circuit model developed to describe the device.

Quantifying Pharmaceutical Film Coating with Optical Coherence Tomography and Terahertz Pulsed Imaging: An Evaluation

Spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) has recently attracted a lot of interest in the pharmaceutical industry as a fast and non-destructive modality for quantification of thin film coatings that cannot easily be resolved with other techniques. Because of the relative infancy of this technique, much of the research to date has focused on developing the in-line measurement technique for assessing film coating thickness. To better assess OCT for pharmaceutical coating quantification, this paper evaluates tablets with a range of film coating thickness measured using OCT and terahertz pulsed imaging (TPI) in an off-line setting. In order to facilitate automated coating quantification for film coating thickness in the range of 30-200μm, an algorithm that uses wavelet denoising and a tailored peak finding method is proposed to analyse each of the acquired A-scan. Results obtained from running the algorithm reveal an increasing disparity between the TPI and OCT measured intra-tablet variability when film coating thickness exceeds 100μm. The finding further confirms that OCT is a suitable modality for characterising pharmaceutical dosage forms with thin film coatings, whereas TPI is well suited for thick coatings.

Analysis of measurement uncertainty in THz-TDS

Measurement precision is often required in the process of material parameter extraction. This fact is applicable to terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS), which is able to determine the optical/dielectric constants of material in the T-ray regime. Essentially, an ultrafast-pulsed THz-TDS system is composed of several mechanical, optical, and electronic parts, each of which is limited in precision. In operation, the uncertainties of these parts, along with the uncertainties introduced during the parameter extraction process, contribute to the overall uncertainty appearing at the output, i.e. the uncertainty in the extracted optical constants. This paper analyzes the sources of uncertainty and models error propagation through the process.

Diffusion and swelling measurements in pharmaceutical powder compacts using terahertz pulsed imaging.

Tablet dissolution is strongly affected by swelling and solvent penetration into its matrix. A terahertz-pulsed imaging (TPI) technique, in reflection mode, is introduced as a new tool to measure one-dimensional swelling and solvent ingress in flat-faced pharmaceutical compacts exposed to dissolution medium from one face of the tablet. The technique was demonstrated on three tableting excipients: hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose (HPMC), Eudragit RSPO, and lactose. Upon contact with water, HPMC initially shrinks to up to 13% of its original thickness before undergoing expansion. HPMC and lactose were shown to expand to up to 20% and 47% of their original size in 24 h and 13 min, respectively, whereas Eudragit does not undergo dimensional change. The TPI technique was used to measure the ingress of water into HPMC tablets over a period of 24 h and it was observed that water penetrates into the tablet by anomalous diffusion. X-ray microtomography was used to measure tablet porosity alongside helium pycnometry and was linked to the results obtained by TPI. Our results highlight a new application area of TPI in the pharmaceutical sciences that could be of interest in the development and quality testing of advanced drug delivery systems as well as immediate release formulations.

Impact of Processing Conditions on Inter-tablet Coating Thickness Variations Measured by Terahertz In-Line Sensing.

A novel in-line technique utilising pulsed terahertz radiation for direct measurement of the film coating thickness of individual tablets during the coating process was previously developed and demonstrated on a production-scale coater. Here, we use this technique to monitor the evolution of tablet film coating thickness and its inter-tablet variability during the coating process under a number of different process conditions that have been purposefully induced in the production-scale coating process. The changes that were introduced to the coating process include removing the baffles from the coater, adding uncoated tablets to the running process, halting the drum, blockage of spray guns and changes to the spray rate. The terahertz sensor was able to pick up the resulting changes in average coating thickness in the coating drum and we report the impact of these process changes on the resulting coating quality.

Low-cost ultra-thin broadband terahertz beam-splitter

A low-cost terahertz beam-splitter is fabricated using ultra-thin LDPE plastic sheeting coated with a conducting silver layer. The beam splitting ratio is determined as a function of the thickness of the silver layer--thus any required splitting ratio can be printed on demand with a suitable rapid prototyping technology. The low-cost aspect is a consequence of the fact that ultra-thin LDPE sheeting is readily obtainable, known more commonly as domestic plastic wrap or cling wrap. The proposed beam-splitter has numerous advantages over float zone silicon wafers commonly used within the terahertz frequency range. These advantages include low-cost, ease of handling, ultra-thin thickness, and any required beam splitting ratio can be readily fabricated. Furthermore, as the beam-splitter is ultra-thin, it presents low loss and does not suffer from Fabry-Pérot effects. Measurements performed on manufactured prototypes with different splitting ratios demonstrate a good agreement with our theoretical model in both P and S polarizations, exhibiting nearly frequency-independent splitting ratios in the terahertz frequency range.

Dual-Mode Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy System

Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) systems traditionally operate in a single mode, either in reflection or transmission. In cases where the sample has nonunity permeability, measurements in both reflection and transmission geometries are required. The process of shifting and swapping the samples during an experiment increases the measurement uncertainty. This paper therefore presents a system where both reflection and transmission measurements can be performed simultaneously to reduce both experimental error and acquisition time. The measurement results are validated against findings in literature.