Ultra-broadband THz time-domain spectroscopy of energetic materials

Ultra-broadband THz spectroscopy based on photomixing in air plasma allows to exploit an extended frequency range, up to 20 THz and beyond. In this work, we investigate the potential of this technique for chemical recognition of illicit substances like explosives and compare the experimental spectra with ab-inition DFT simulation results to get deeper insight to the physical nature of the observed spectral features.