Broadband terahertz time-domain spectroscopic system with photoconductive antennas

Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) has many advantages over the traditional spectroscopies. Nevertheless it has been said that its spectral coverage is limited less tha several THz. In order to extend this limitation to higher frequencies, we have developed a broadband THz-TDS system. The system consists of a mode-locked Ti:Sapphire ultra short pulse laser as an excitation light source and photoconductive antennas as terahertz radiation emitter and detector. It is enclosed in a vacuum-tight box, which is purged with nitrogen gas and has a revolving sample stage and it can be controlled automatically. A frequency region of 0.1–15 THz is covered by this system.