Abstract-Terahertz pulse imaging in archaeology

• J. Bianca Jackson, 
• Julien Labaune, 
• Rozenn Bailleul-Lesuer, 
• Laura D’Alessandro, 
• Alison Whyte,
• John W. Bowen, 
• Michel Menu, 
• Gerard Mourou
• http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12200-014-0446-y
  
  

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.