High resolution object inspection apparatus using terahertz wave

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9239287-B2
Application number	US-201214385033-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 10, 2012
Priority date	Mar 14, 2012
Publication date	Jan 19, 2016
Grant date	Jan 19, 2016

Abstract

An object inspection apparatus includes a terahertz wave supplying unit for generating a terahertz wave and moving a path of the terahertz wave according to time so that the terahertz wave is supplied to an object to be inspected, a focusing lens located between the terahertz wave supplying unit and the object to be inspected to focus the terahertz wave supplied by the terahertz wave supplying unit, a rotating plate having a plate shape and including a plurality of the focusing lenses with different distances from the center thereof, the rotating plate rotating in the circumferential direction so that one of the focusing lenses is located at a path of the terahertz wave according to the path movement of the terahertz wave, and a terahertz wave detecting unit for collecting and detecting a terahertz wave incident to the object to be inspected.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An object inspection apparatus, comprising:
a terahertz wave supplying unit for generating a terahertz wave and moving a path of the terahertz wave according to time so that the terahertz wave is supplied to an object to be inspected;
a focusing lens located between the terahertz wave supplying unit and the object to be inspected so that the terahertz wave supplied by the terahertz wave supplying unit is focused;
a rotating plate having a plate shape and including a plurality of the focusing lenses with different distances from the center thereof, the rotating plate rotating in the circumferential direction so that one of the focusing lenses is located at a path of the terahertz wave according to the path movement of the terahertz wave; and
a terahertz wave detecting unit for collecting and detecting a terahertz wave incident to the object to be inspected;
wherein the focusing lens includes a plurality of circular grooves formed at the rotating plate and having a same center and different radiuses so that the circular grooves are spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance.

2. The object inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of focusing lenses included in the rotating plate are arranged in a spiral pattern.

3. The object inspection apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the spiral pattern has at least two turns at the rotating plate.

4. The object inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the rotating plate is synchronized as it rotates with the path movement of the terahertz wave.

5. The object inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the grooves of the focusing lens are formed so that the thickness of the rotating plate decreases by a regular depth.

6. The object inspection apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the radiuses of the grooves of the focusing lens are determined according to the equation below:

r
n

=

n
⁢

⁢
λ
⁢

⁢
f

+

n
2

⁢

λ
2

4

where r represents a radius of each groove, n is a natural number and represents an order from the center of the grooves, λ represents a wavelength of the terahertz wave, and f represents a focal distance.

7. The object inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the focusing lens is made of an optically transparent material in a terahertz wave region.

8. The object inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the terahertz wave supplying unit moves the path of the terahertz wave in a straight line.

9. The object inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the terahertz wave supplying unit includes:
a terahertz wave supplying module for generating and supplying a terahertz wave;
a scanning mirror for rapidly reflecting the terahertz wave, supplied by the terahertz wave supplying module, in a predetermined angle range while rotating; and
a scanning collimating module for collimating the terahertz wave reflected by the scanning mirror so that the parallel terahertz wave is incident on an object to be inspected.

10. The object inspection apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the terahertz wave supplying module includes:
a terahertz wave generating unit for generating and emitting a terahertz wave;
an optical focusing unit for focusing the terahertz wave, emitted from the terahertz wave generating unit, to have a reduced field angle; and
a beam collimating unit for collimating the terahertz wave focused by the optical focusing unit.

11. The object inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the terahertz wave detecting unit includes:
a reflection detecting unit for detecting the terahertz wave reflected by the object to be inspected; and
a penetration detecting unit for detecting the terahertz wave penetrating through the object to be inspected.

12. The object inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a display unit for providing an image by using the terahertz wave detected by the terahertz wave detecting unit.

13. The object inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising an object transfer unit for transferring the object to be inspected.

14. The object inspection apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein the object transfer unit includes two conveyor belts arranged sequentially to transfer the object to be inspected, and the terahertz wave focused by the focusing lens is incident between the two conveyor belts.

15. A focusing lens for focusing a terahertz wave, wherein a plurality of circular grooves having the same center and different radiuses are formed at the focusing lens so that the circular grooves are spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance.

16. The focusing lens according to claim 15 , wherein the plurality of circular grooves are formed so that the thickness of the rotating plate decreases by a regular depth.

17. The focusing lens according to claim 16 , wherein the radiuses of the grooves of the focusing lens are determined according to the equation below:

r
n

=

n
⁢

⁢
λ
⁢

⁢
f

+

n
2

⁢

λ
2

4

where r represents a radius of each groove, n is a natural number and represents an order from the center of the grooves, λ represents a wavelength of the terahertz wave, and f represents a focal distance.

18. The focusing lens according to claim 15 , wherein the focusing lens is made of an optically transparent material in a terahertz wave region.

Assignees

• Chun Hyang-Sook
• Choi Sung-Wook
• Chang Hyun-Joo
• Lee Na-Ri
• Ok Gyeong-Sik
• Korea Food Res Inst

Inventors

• Chun Hyang-Sook
• Choi Sung-Wook
• Chang Hyun-Joo
• Lee Na-Ri
• Ok Gyeong-Sik

Classifications

• G01N21/8806

  Specially adapted optical and illumination features · CPC title

• G01N21/94

  Investigating contamination, e.g. dust (G01N21/85 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G02B3/00

  Simple or compound lenses · CPC title

• H01Q15/08

  formed of solid dielectric material · CPC title

• G01N21/3581 Primary

  using far infrared light; using Terahertz radiation · CPC title