Terahertz radar cross-section characterisation using laser feedback interferometry with quantum cascade laser

Author

Lui, H.S. ; Taimre, T. ; Bertling, K. ; Lim, Y.L. ; Dean, P. ; Khanna, S.P. ; Lachab, M. ; Valavanis, A. ; Indjin, D. ; Linfield, E.H. ; Davies, A.G. ; Rakic?Œ??, A.D.

Author_Institution

Sch. of Inf. Technol. & Electr. Eng., Univ. of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

Volume

51

Issue

22

fYear

2015

Firstpage

1774

Lastpage

1776

Abstract

Radar cross-section (RCS) measurements of complex, large objects are usually performed on scale models so that the measurement is carried out in a well-controlled environment. The feasibility of RCS measurement using a terahertz (THz) quantum cascade laser (QCL) via laser feedback interferometry is explored. Numerical simulations show that the RCS information embedded in the nonlinear interferometric signals obtained from simple targets can be retrieved through numerical fitting of the well-known excess phase equation. The method is validated experimentally using a THz QCL and the results are well matched with those obtained from numerical simulations.

Keywords

laser feedback; light interferometry; measurement by laser beam; numerical analysis; quantum cascade lasers; radar cross-sections; excess phase equation; laser feedback interferometry; nonlinear interferometric signals; numerical fitting; numerical simulations; radar cross-section measurements; terahertz quantum cascade laser; terahertz radar cross-section;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electronics Letters

Publisher

iet

ISSN

0013-5194

Type

jour

DOI

10.1049/el.2015.2878

Filename

7308182