Fiber-coupled terahertz TDS combining high speed operation with superior dynamic range

Highly efficient mesa-structured 1.5 m photoconductive antennas, direct detection without lock-in amplifier, and a voice-coil mirror drive with accurate position sensor are merged to a fast and precise system. A pulse trace of 25 ps is measured every 50 ms, and integration over 15 s results in a superior 75 dB dynamic range and a bandwidth of 5 THz.