Influences of real-world conditions on terahertz stand-off detection: Simulation and experiment

Terahertz spectroscopy has become a well-established tool under laboratory conditions but terahertz standoff detection in the real world is hampered by a number of influences related to the environment and the sample properties such as air humidity, surface roughness and angle of detection. A terahertz stand-off system must be calibrated in order to account for these influences. We have performed experiments and simulations in order to probe the limits of terahertz stand-off detection under real-world conditions.