Compressive Terahertz Imaging Using a Single-Bit Sensor

We present a single-pixel imaging system for the Terahertz (THz) band, capable of producing high-resolution images via a single-bit sensor and compressive reconstruction. To acquire the “single-bit” data, intensity measurement for each binary mask pattern is compared with the response for its complementary version. As such, by recording only the “sign” of the difference between the two complementary-mask measurements, we are able to recover images at 690 GHz using only 25% of the conventional number of measurements as dictated by the Nyquist rate. We also demonstrate that the single-bit compressive THz imaging exhibits the improved noise performance as compared with the conventional compressive sensing (CS) approaches. We also show that the single-bit THz CS is more effective under lower SNR illumination compared to the conventional CS, hence, has the potential to significantly lower the cost of the source illuminating the scene. Finally, a simple comparator can be used as the analog-to-digital conversion device for the single-bit measurements that suggests the possibility of realizing a very low cost, high-performance imaging system for ubiquitous THz imaging applications.