Towards industrial applications of terahertz real-time imaging

Recent innovations in photonics and nanotechnology are now enabling terahertz (THz) research to be applied in many industrial fields such as homeland security, information and communications technology (ICT), biology and medical science, non-destructive tests or quality control of food and agricultural products. Still many challenges are to be addressed, the main one being to provide THz systems with sufficient signal to noise ratio when operated in real industrials conditions. In addition, cost is a key lock that hampers the spread of this technology but it is clear that cost-effective sources and detectors compatible with standard microelectronics will drive down the overall cost, and in particular will make THz imaging accessible for industrial use. In order to bring THz imaging to industry, Leti has been developing over the past decade complementary CMOS-compatible uncooled imaging 2D-array technologies: antenna-coupled bolometers and Field Effect Transistor detectors. In addition, CEATech built a test platform dedicated to the development of industrial prototypes of photonics technologies. In particular, in collaboration with i2S, this platform includes the TZCAM camera equipped with Leti's 320x240 bolometric pixel array and gives access to a full industrial THz imaging chain that is essential for maturation of this emerging technology. This paper gives an overview of these developments and illustrates industrial applications with examples of uncooled THz imaging tests, e.g. opaque object 2D inspection or 3D tomography.