Terahertz waves in cultural heritage: Imaging results via the fiber-coupled terahertz time domain system

Terahertz imaging and spectroscopy are receiving an increasing attention in cultural heritage owing to their ability to gather information on materials, constructive techniques and possible damages characterizing artworks in a non-invasive and contactless way. In order to assess the potentialities offered by this emerging technology, examples available in the pertaining literature and concerning surveys of painting masterpieces are briefly reviewed. Moreover, surveys carried out at the Institute for Electromagnetic Sensing of the Environment - National Research Council of Italy are presented. These surveys have been performed by means of a commercial system on a laboratory wood object and a majolica tile, which is an example of the Neapolitan majolica tile production of the XIX century. The achieved results provide a further proof of the ability of terahertz waves to image hidden details and represent one of the first example concerning the use of terahertz waves as a tool to characterize majolica objects.