Set-up of a THz Time Domain Spectrometer at INRIM

The European Metrology Research Program Project NEW-07 “Microwave and Terahertz metrology for homeland security” is aimed to develop metrological traceability of sources and detectors in sub-mm and THz frequency bands as a prerequisite for the traceability of more complex THz measurement systems, such as spectrometers, body scanners and imaging systems. In this framework, a Time Domain Spectrometer working up to about 3 THz has been set-up at Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica, Italy. Its characteristics are here described. First characterization measurements have been done and are here reported in terms of stability and bandwidth and signal to noise ratio achievable with different kind of emitters.