A SSATM instrument is typically designed in a time-domain spectroscopy configuration in which a high power infrared laser beam is divided into two optical paths by a beamsplitter. 
The first optical path often receives a greater fraction of the optical power of the laser to maximize the output power of generated THz light. THz light is often generated with a voltage-pulsed photoconductive antenna, collected with a hyper-hemispherical silicon lens, collimated using an off-axis parabolic mirror that is then passed through a THz polarizer, made circular by a THz quarter waveplate constructed of two planar mirrors and a right-angled high-resistivity silicon prism to form circularly polarized light. A second THz polarizer selects from the circularly polarized THz light the angle at which each measurement is made once the light reaches a sample located at a focal point of the beam and mounted in direct contact with an electro-optic crystal often made of either ZnTe or GaP.
The second optical path includes a retroreflector mirror mounted on a delay stage that adjusts the time-of-flight of the NIR beam to match the delay time, , of the THz light at the sample. The NIR beam is linearly polarized and chopped at a frequency suitable for detection, directed to the EO crystal to measure the change in its birefringence due to the degree of THz absorption by the sample. The NIR beam is reflected by the sample/EO crystal interface and directed to the detection module that often consists of an NIR quarter waveplate, a Wollaston prism that spatially selects perpendicular polarization states of the light toward two detectors in a balanced detector. The detected signal is a measure of the difference of the magnitude of the  two perpendicular polarization states and corresponds to the degree of birefringence induced in the EO crystal by the THz light as-perturbed by the sample.