600-GHz Electronically Tunable Vector Measurement System

A compact, high-dynamic-range, electronically tunable vector measurement system that operates in the frequency range from ≈560 to ≈635 GHz has been developed as a prototype of vector measurement systems that would be suitable for use in nearly-real- time active submillimeter-wave imaging. A judicious choice of intermediate frequencies makes it possible to utilize a significant amount of commercial off-the-shelf communication hardware in this system to keep its cost relatively low. The electronic tunability of this system has been proposed to be utilized in a yet-to-be-developed imaging system in which a frequency- dispersive lens would be used to steer transmitted and received beams in one dimension as a function of frequency. Then acquisition of a complete image could be effected by a combination of frequency sweeping for scanning in the aforesaid dimension and mechanical scanning in the perpendicular dimension.