Front. Optoelectron. 2015, Vol. 8 Issue (1) : 81-92 DOI: 10.1007/s12200-014-0446-y

Terahertz pulse imaging in archaeology

J. Bianca JACKSON1,2,*(),Julien LABAUNE1,Rozenn BAILLEUL-LESUER3,Laura D'ALESSANDRO3,Alison WHYTE3,John W. BOWEN2,Michel MENU4,Gerard MOUROU1

1. Institute de la Lumière Extrême, Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France 2. School of Systems Engineering, University of Reading, Reading, UK 3. Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA 4. Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France, Paris, France

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Abstract

The work presented in this paper was performed at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, on objects from their permanent collection: an ancient Egyptian bird mummy and three ancient Sumerian corroded copper-alloy objects. We used a portable, fiber-coupled terahertz (THz) time-domain spectroscopic imaging system, which allowed us to measure specimens in both transmission and reflection geometry, and present time- and frequency-based image modes. The results confirm earlier evidence that THz imaging can provide complementary information to that obtainable from X-ray computed tomography (XRCT) scans of mummies, giving better visualisation of low density regions. In addition, we demonstrated that THz imaging can distinguish mineralized layers in metal artifacts.