Terahertz Power Research Articles

Ultralow-frequency ultranarrow-bandwidth coherent terahertz imaging for nondestructive testing of mortar material.

Nondestructive testing of concrete materials is essential in civil engineering to maintain social infrastructure such as buildings or bridges. In this study, we constructed an ultralow-frequency, ultranarrow-bandwidth, coherent terahertz (THz) imaging system based on THz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS). Based on its ultralow-frequency-localized THz wave and coherent detection, the present system achieved a wide dynamic range of THz power over 100 dB at 0.046 THz, which is appropriate to measure the mortar material. The achieved dynamic range of the THz power was 59 dB larger than that of a commercialized THz-TDS system and 49 dB larger than that of an ultralow-frequency noncoherent THz imaging system equipped with a high-power electric THz source. Ultimately, the proposed system could visualize the inner structure of a mortar sample with a thickness of 10 mm, and the present system can investigate a mortar sample with a thickness of over 130 mm. The proposed method is an attractive tool for non-destructive testing of thick concrete structures characterized by non-invasiveness and non-contact remoteness.

Near-optimal intense and powerful terahertz source by optical rectification in lithium niobate crystal

Using a 400 μJ ytterbium laser combined with a novel pulse compression technique, we demonstrate a state-of-the-art terahertz (THz) source from the tilted-pulse front pumping scheme in lithium niobate at room temperature with record efficiency of 1.3% capable of generating 74 mW of average power and 400 kV/cm at focus. Key points of this demonstration include the use of a pump pulse duration of 280 fs in combination with a stair-step echelon mirror and an off-axis ellipsoidal mirror. This source has unmatched characteristics of generating intense and powerful THz pulses at the same time and remains highly scalable as compared to existing Ti:sapphire-based THz sources pumped in the millijoule range.

Nonlinear optical single crystals for terahertz generation and detection

Nonlinear optical (NLO) single crystals with high quality are the pillars for the development of new devices that fulfil the demands of society. Nowadays, NLO single crystals are very attractive for the photonic applications particularly for terahertz (THz) photonics. The reason for their popularity is that these crystals can produce very powerful and ultra wideband THz waves due to their high nonlinear susceptibility. In this review paper, we deal with the challenges and progresses in the evolution of NLO single crystals for THz wave generation and detection. Here, we review the single crystal growth that how and by which method single crystal is grown. We summarize the structures, intermolecular and intramolecular interactions, their properties and how they generate and detect the THz waves. Widely used single crystals at present are DAST, BNA, OH1, amino acid-based single crystals, etc.

Terahertz wave amplification by a laser-modulated relativistic electron beam

Generation of tunable terahertz radiation based on the interaction of a frequency-chirped low power terahertz wave with a relativistic electron beam is proposed. The electron beam is first modulated temporally due to the ponderomotive force induced by the beat wave of two copropagating intense laser beams of slightly different frequencies. Then the electron beam interacts with a low-amplitude driver wave at terahertz frequency with a linear frequency chirping. A nonlinear transverse current density is driven that emits terahertz radiation at an up-shifted frequency with a relatively enhanced amplitude. The modulation process is analyzed theoretically by a complete set of fluid equations and considering the effects of both the electrons space-charge potential and the beat wave ponderomotive force. The initial density and energy of the electron beam are both optimized in order to improve the terahertz amplification process. The effect of the driver's frequency chirping, as well as the effects of the initial electron beam density and energy on the emitted terahertz radiation are investigated numerically. It is shown that the frequency chirping of the driver wave plays a key role in terahertz amplification. It is shown that there is an optimum chirp value for which the terahertz radiation is amplified significantly compared with the case without chirping. Moreover, transverse effects of the laser beams and the driver wave on the emitted terahertz radiation are also investigated.

Enhanced terahertz emission from mushroom-shaped InAs nanowire network induced by linear and nonlinear optical effects

The development of powerful terahertz (THz) emitters is the cornerstone for future THz applications, such as communication, medical biology, non-destructive inspection, and scientific research. Here, we report the THz emission properties and mechanisms of mushroom-shaped InAs nanowire (NW) network using linearly polarized laser excitation. By investigating the dependence of THz signal to the incidence pump light properties (e.g. incident angle, direction, fluence, and polarization angle), we conclude that the THz wave emission from the InAs NW network is induced by the combination of linear and nonlinear optical effects. The former is a transient photocurrent accelerated by the photo-Dember field, while the latter is related to the resonant optical rectification effect. Moreover, the p-polarized THz wave emission component is governed by the linear optical effect with a proportion of ∼85% and the nonlinear optical effect of ∼15%. In comparison, the s-polarized THz wave emission component is mainly decided by the nonlinear optical effect. The THz emission is speculated to be enhanced by the localized surface plasmon resonance absorption of the In droplets on top of the NWs. This work verifies the nonlinear optical mechanism in the THz generation of semiconductor NWs and provides an enlightening reference for the structural design of powerful and flexible THz surface and interface emitters in transmission geometry.

Probing the existence of non-thermal Terahertz radiation induced changes of the protein solution structure

During the last decades discussions were taking place on the existence of global, non-thermal structural changes in biological macromolecules induced by Terahertz (THz) radiation. Despite numerous studies, a clear experimental proof of this effect for biological particles in solution is still missing. We developed a setup combining THz-irradiation with small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), which is a sensitive method for detecting the expected structural changes. We investigated in detail protein systems with different shape morphologies (bovine serum albumin, microtubules), which have been proposed to be susceptible to THz-radiation, under variable parameters (THz wavelength, THz power densities up to 6.8 mW/cm2, protein concentrations). None of the studied systems and conditions revealed structural changes detectable by SAXS suggesting that the expected non-thermal THz-induced effects do not lead to alterations of the overall structures, which are revealed by scattering from dissolved macromolecules. This leaves us with the conclusion that, if such effects are present, these are either local or outside of the spectrum and power range covered by the present study.

Fabrication and modeling of antenna integrated uni-traveling-carrier photodiodes

The fabrication and modeling of bow-tie antenna integrated uni-traveling carrier photodiodes (UTC-PD) are presented. The experimental results show that a −10.68 dBm RF power can be obtained from the 4 × 50 μm2 area UTC-PD at 100 GHz. The device is modeled by high frequency simulation software. The trend of variation of the measured terahertz (THz) power with frequency matches well with the simulation results. Based on the model, the effects of the shape and the contact pads of the antenna on the THz power emission properties of the device are studied numerically, which helps to further optimize the device design.

Protein-Ligand Binding Molecular Details Revealed by Terahertz Optical Kerr Spectroscopy: A Simulation Study.

Picosecond fast motions and their involvement in the biochemical processes such as protein–ligand binding has engaged significant attention. Terahertz optical Kerr spectroscopy (OKE) has the superior potential to probe these fast motions directly. Application of OKE in protein–ligand binding study is, however, limited by the difficulty of quantitative atomistic interpretation, and the calculation of Kerr spectrum for entire solvated protein complex was considered not yet feasible, due to the lack of one consistent polarizable model for both configuration sampling and polarizability calculation. Here, we analyzed the biochemical relevance of OKE to the lysozyme–triacetylchitotriose binding based on the first OKE simulation using one consistent Drude polarizable model. An analytical multipole and induced dipole scheme was employed to calculate the off-diagonal Drude polarizability more efficiently and accurately. Further theoretical analysis revealed how the subtle twisting and stiffening of aromatic protein residues’ spatial arrangement as well as the confinement of small water clusters between ligand and protein cavity due to the ligand binding can be examined using Kerr spectroscopy. Comparison between the signals of bound complex and that of uncorrelated protein/ligand demonstrated that binding action alone has reflection in the OKE spectrum. Our study indicated OKE as a powerful terahertz probe for protein–ligand binding chemistry and dynamics.

An alternative technique for verification of terahertz Smith–Purcell radiation

An alternative technique to verify terahertz (THz) Smith–Purcell radiation (SPR) was proposed by using different grating periods. A compact DC electron gun, serving as a THz source, was modified to generate continuous 35 keV electron beam that passes by a metal-coated silicon grating in order to induce SPR. A design on beam optics to generate high-brightness beam was carried out by using Computer Simulation Technology (CST) Studio Suite® software package. The optimization of beam parameters was obtained and experimentally performed. Results show that the root-mean-square (rms) beam size (diameter) is about 1 mm when supplying beam current of 200 µA, and rms beam emittance is about 3π mm mrad. The CST simulation software was, furthermore, employed to observe radiation spectra when using different grating structures. A liquid–helium cooled silicon bolometer together with a low-pass filter was used to detect radiation power. The results reveal that incoherent THz signal with power of 1.5 µW cm−2 is observed when the continuous-beam current is about 200 µA. The dependence of THz frequency and power on the grating period, that is associated to the SPR, was also investigated in this work.

Broadband tunable perfect absorber with high absorptivity based on double layer graphene

Due to the problems of low absorptivity and the narrow bandwidth of existing broadband absorbers, a perfect broadband tunable absorber with high absorptivity based on double-layer graphene is proposed in this study with 99% high absorptivity as the reference standard, and its theoretical analysis is performed. The designed absorber consists of complete graphene, upper dielectric material, patterned graphene, lower dielectric material and the gold substrate. Through numerical calculation, the designed absorbing structure can achieve high absorption rate of more than 99% in the range of 2.54–3.70 THz, and has a continuous bandwidth of 1.16 THz. In addition, the absorption range is 52%–100% by changing the Fermi level of the graphene layer. The perfect absorber is symmetrical in rotation center and insensitive to incident angle and polarization. It can be widely used in terahertz switch, modulator design, power acquisition and other related fields.

Silicon Lens Optimization to Create Diffuse, Uniform Illumination from Incoherent THz Source Arrays

Arrays of terahertz (THz) sources provide a pathway to overcoming the radiation power limitations of single sources. Several independent sources of THz radiation may be implemented in a single integrated circuit, thereby realizing a monolithic THz source array of high output power. Integrated THz sources must generally be backside-coupled to extended hemispherical dielectric lenses in order to suppress substrate modes and extract THz power. However, this lens also increases antenna gain and thereby produces several non-overlapping beams. This is because individual source pixels are relatively large. Hence, their spatial separation on-chip translates to angular separation in the far-field. In other words, there are gaps in their field of view into which very little THz power is projected. Therefore, they cannot homogeneously illuminate an imaging target. This article presents a simple, practical, and scalable method to convert arrays of incoherent THz sources into a diffuse, uniform illumination source without the need for reducing pixel size. Briefly, individual beam divergence is optimized by tailoring the dimensions of the extended hemispherical dielectric lens such that the far-field beams of adjacent source pixels overlap and combine to form a uniform far-field beam. We applied this method to an incoherent 8 × 8-pixel THz source array radiating 10.3 dBm at 0.42 THz as a proof of concept and thereby realized a 10.3-dBm 0.42-THz diffuse, uniform illumination source that was then deployed in a demonstration of THz active imaging.

Structural tuning of nonlinear terahertz metamaterials using broadside coupled split ring resonators

We present an experimental and numerical study of a terahertz metamaterial with a nonlinear response that is controllable via the relative structural arrangement of two stacked split ring resonator arrays. The first array is fabricated on an n-doped GaAs substrate, and the second array is fabricated vertically above the first using a polyimide spacer layer. Due to GaAs carrier dynamics, the on-resonance terahertz transmission at 0.4 THz varies in a nonlinear manner with incident terahertz power. The second resonator layer dampens this nonlinear response. In samples where the two layers are aligned, the resonance disappears, and the total nonlinear modulation of the on-resonance transmission decreases. The nonlinear modulation is restored in samples where an alignment offset is imposed between the two resonator arrays. Structurally tunable metamaterials and metasurfaces can therefore act as a design template for tunable nonlinear THz devices by controlling the coupling of confined electric fields to nonlinear phenomena in a complex material substrate or inclusion.

Novel mechanism for terahertz radiation by oblique colliding of two electron beams in plasma

A new scheme for generating high power terahertz (THz) radiation by using two obliquely colliding electron beams in plasma is proposed. The particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation finds that a small beam intersection of high electron density is formed within a plasma wavelength when two thin electron beams collide. Meanwhile, the beam intersection can oscillate in a strong plasma wave driven by the two beams to produce THz radiation at double plasma frequency. A theoretical model is established showing that the radiation mechanism is the second-order current generated by the beam intersection oscillation. The angular distribution of the THz radiation is calculated by the theory, which agrees well with the PIC simulation. Compared with the existing high power THz sources, the scheme provided in this article has the advantages of a simple structure and no need for extreme parameter conditions, which is hopeful for applications in kilowatt-level coherent compact THz sources.

Maximizing Performance of Quantum Cascade Laser-Pumped Molecular Lasers

Quantum cascade laser (QCL)-pumped molecular lasers (QPMLs) have recently been introduced as a new source of powerful (>1 mW), tunable (>1 THz), narrow-band (<10 kHz), continuous-wave terahertz radiation. The performance of these lasers depends critically on molecular collision physics, pump saturation, and on the design of the laser cavity. Using a validated three-level model that captures the essential collision and saturation behaviors of the QPML gas nitrous oxide (N2O),we explore how threshold pump power and output terahertz power depend on pump power, gas pressure, as well as on the diameter, length, and output-coupler transmissivity of a cylindrical cavity.The analysis indicates that maximum power occurs as pump saturation is minimized in a manner that depends much more sensitively on pressure than on cell diameter, length, or transmissivity. A near-optimal compact laser cavity can produce more than 10 mW of power tunable over frequencies above 1 THz when pumped by a multi-watt QCL.

High Power Terahertz Cherenkov Free Electron Laser from a Waveguide with a Thin Dielectric Layer by a Near-Relativistic Electron Beam

High Power Terahertz Cherenkov Free Electron Laser from a Waveguide with a Thin Dielectric Layer by a Near-Relativistic Electron Beam

Intra-oscillator broadband THz generation in a compact ultrafast diode-pumped solid-state laser.

We demonstrate broadband and powerful terahertz (THz) generation at megahertz repetition rate based on intra-oscillator optical rectification (OR) in gallium phosphide (GaP). By placing the nonlinear crystal directly inside the cavity of a Kerr-lens mode-locked ultrafast diode-pumped solid-state laser (DPSSL) oscillator, we demonstrate a compact and single-stage THz source. Using only 7 W of diode-pump power, we drive OR in a GaP crystal with 22 W of average power at ∼80 MHz repetition rate. In a first configuration, using a 0.3-mm-thick GaP and 105 fs driving pulses, we generate up to 150 µW of THz radiation with a spectrum extending to 5.5 THz. In a second configuration allowing for sub-50-fs pulse duration, we generate up to 7 THz inside a 0.1-mm-thick GaP crystal. This performance is well suited for THz time-domain spectroscopy and THz imaging. Intra-oscillator THz generation in sub-100-fs DPSSLs is a promising way to scale down footprint, complexity and cost of powerful broadband THz sources.

Effects of Crystallographic Orientation of GaAs Substrate and the Period of Plasmon Grid on THz Antenna Performance

AbstractAn alternative approach is proposed to improve the conventional (based on the low‐temperature grown GaAs and Si‐doped GaAs superlattice) photoconductive antenna (PCA) performance by modification of the planar electrodes design and crystallographic orientations of the GaAs substrate ((100) and (111)‐A). The electrode scheme design includes a combination of logarithmic spiral, bow‐tie, and plasmonic antennas and results in appearance of sharp resonant peaks, high spectral bandwidth and high signal‐to‐noise ratio, and significant enhancement of the output terahertz (THz) power. The material design leads to significant increase in the THz output power (by 6.4 in GaAs (100), by 5.6 in GaAs (111)‐A PCAs) regarding to a conventional antenna. The substrate crystallographic cut direction influences the relaxation time constant of photoexcited charge carriers being an order of magnitude smaller in the sample grown on the GaAs (111)‐A than in the one on the GaAs (100). The simulation model supports experimental results demonstrating that the optimal period of the plasmonic antenna grid providing the highest efficiency of THz radiation generation, is about 200 nm. Comparison of the THz spectra in manufactured antennas against the conventional stripline PCA shows a broadening band toward the low‐frequency region down to 0.1 THz with a resonance at 0.2 THz.

Investigation on fiber‐based terahertz source

AbstractA terahertz (THz) source based on hybrid Opt‐THz fiber, which is made of concentric central optical fiber and external Terahertz fiber, was proposed. With the enhanced second order nonlinearity in the central optical fiber, THz waves are distributed through difference frequency by high‐power optical pump laser. The external THz fiber will be designed with hollow fiber structure, and the THz waves are propagated and accumulated along the THz fiber. The simulation shows that the maximum THz power can reach ~4.8 mW after a 13.7 m optimal fiber length. The proposed THz source will be able to compete with existing THz sources in terms of power, compactness, frequency tunability and room‐temperature operation.

Spintronics phenomena induced by THz radiation in narrow-gap HgCdTe thin films in an external constant electric field

The responses of uncooled (T = 300 K) and cooled to T = 78 K antenna-coupled Hg1–xCdxTe-based narrow-gap thin-film photoconductors having large spin-orbit coupling and irradiated by the terahertz (THz) radiation (linearly or circularly polarized) have been investigated. Powerful THz radiation excitation causes photocurrents, which signs and magnitudes are controlled by orientation of antenna axes, an external constant electric field direction and orientation of the polarized (circular or linear) radiation electric field falling onto photoconductors. The observed effects seem to be caused by the spin currents observed in devices where spintronic effects are revealed. spintronic phenomena, photoconductors, THz radiation, HgCdTe.

Terahertz Frequency Combs: Chip‐Scale Terahertz Frequency Combs through Integrated Intersubband Polariton Bleaching (Laser Photonics Rev. 15(6)/2021)

In article number 2000575, Miriam S. Vitiello and co-workers report on an integrated architecture for the generation of high power terahertz (THz) frequency combs (FCs) comprising an ultrafast THz polaritonic reflector, exploiting intersubband cavity polaritons, and a broad bandwidth heterogeneous THz quantum cascade lasers (QCL). It is shown that the polaritonic reflector induces spectral reshaping of the QCL emission and stable FC operation over 38% of the laser operational range.