Optimisation of sample thickness for THz-TDS measurements

Abstract

How thick should the sample be for a transmission THz-TDS measurement? Should the sample be as thick as possible? The answer is `no'. Although more thickness allows T-rays to interact more with bulk material, SNR rolls off with thickness due to signal attenuation. Then, should the sample be extremely thin? Again, the answer is `no'. A sample that is too thin renders itself nearly invisible to T-rays, in such a way that the system can hardly sense the difference between the sample and a free space path. So, where is the optimal boundary between `too thick' and `too thin'? The trade-off is analysed and revealed in this paper, where our approach is to find the optimal thickness that results in the minimal variance of measured optical constants.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figure