S•• S 106 iO 108 io 1010 1011 1012 1013 1014 1015 1 016 1017 trequency (FIZ) wavelength (m) 102 11 ° 11 102 1O i0 iO 106 iO 108 io non-ionizing ionizing gamma-ray x-ray uv visible infrared Terahertz RADAR microwave mobile (UMTS, GSM) radio Passive stand-off Terahertz imaging with 1 Hertz frame rate T. May a , G. Zieger a , S. Anders a , V. Zakosarenko a , M. Starkloff, H.-G. Meyer a , G. Thorwirth b E.Kreysa c a Institute of Photonic Technology, Albert-Einstein-Str. 9, D-07745 Jena, Germany b Jena-Optronik GmbH, Pruessingstr. 21, D-07745 Jena, Germany c Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, Auf dem Huegel 69, D-53121 Bonn, Germany ABSTRACT Terahertz (THz) cameras are expected to be a powerful tool for future security applications. If such a technology shall be useful for typical security scenarios (e.g. airport check-in) it has to meet some minimum standards. A THz camera should record images with video rate from a safe distance (stand-off). Although active cameras are conceivable, a passive system has the benefit of concealed operation. Additionally, from an ethic perspective, the lack of exposure to a radiation source is a considerable advantage in public acceptance. Taking all these requirements into account, only cooled detectors are able to achieve the needed sensitivity. A big leap forward in the detector performance and scalability was driven by the astrophysics community. Superconducting bolometers and midsized arrays of them have been developed and are in routine use. Although devices with many pixels are foreseeable nowadays a device with an additional scanning optic is the straightest way to an imaging system with a useful resolution. We demonstrate the capabilities of a concept for a passive Terahertz video camera based on superconducting technology. The actual prototype utilizes a small Cassegrain telescope with a gyrating secondary mirror to record 2 kilopixel THz images with 1 second frame rate. Keywords: THz, Terahertz, camera, imaging, bolometer, TES Figure 1: Electromagnetic spectrum. Terahertz for Military and Security Applications VI, edited by James O. Jensen, Hong-Liang Cui, Dwight L. Woolard, R. Jennifer Hwu, Proc. of SPIE Vol. 6949, 69490C, (2008) · 0277-786X/08/$18 · doi: 10.1117/12.777952 Proc. of SPIE Vol. 6949 69490C-1 2008 SPIE Digital Library -- Subscriber Archive Copy