A wavefront analyzer for terahertz time-domain spectrometers

We report on the development of a terahertz wavefront sensor able to determine the optical aberrations of a terahertz time-domain spectrometer. The system measures point-by-point the amplitude and phase of the terahertz electric field in a given plane. From this measurement, we reconstruct the terahertz wavefront and calculate its Zernike coefficients. In particular, we especially show that the focus spot of the spectrometer suffers from optical aberrations such as remaining defocus, first and second order astigmatisms, as well as spherical aberration. This opens a route to wavefront correction for improved terahertz imaging and spectroscopy.