The active-passive continuous-wave terahertz imaging system

Active and passive terahertz (THz) imaging have recently become essential instruments of various THz applications. In this paper the active- and passive-mode THz imaging systems are studied and the hybrid active-passive THz imaging system is suggested. The concept of image contrast was used to compare the active and passive THz imaging results. In order to achieve better image quality the hybrid system is considered to be effective. The main advantage of the proposed system is the combination of the self-emitted radiation of the object with the back scattered source radiation. The experimental results demonstrate that the active-passive modality of THz imaging system allows retrieving maximum information about the object. An approach to synthesise the active-passive THz images was proposed using the false-color representation.