We present a characterization of the combined spatial and spectral properties of the terahertz (THz) and mid-infrared emission from gas plasmas generated and driven by two-colour femtosecond optical ...pulses. For its use in nonlinear spectroscopy, the impact of the relatively complex spatial profile for both broadband (∼ 10 THz) and ultra-broadband (> 100 THz) emission needs to be considered, in particular for experiments based on z-scan techniques. Here we apply spatially resolved measurements based on both field autocorrelation and sum-frequency (up-conversion) detection. Based on these results, we present simulations of the ultra-broadband profile during its passage through a focal region. In addition to the inherent features of the emission profile due to the generation mechanism in the plasma filament, we also analyse the role of the semconductor (silicon) wafer typically placed after the plasma to discard the optical pump beams, whose photoexcitation also can play a role in the resultant THz profile.
We demonstrate for the first time the applicability of antenna-coupled field-effect transistors for the detection of terahertz radiation (TeraFETs) for multi-spectral imaging from 0.76 to 4.25 THz. ...TeraFETs were fabricated in a commercial 90-nm CMOS process and noise-equivalent powers of 59, 20, 63, 85 and 110 pW/√(Hz) at 0.216, 0.59, 2,52, 3.11 and 4.25 THz, respectively, have been achieved. A set of TeraFETs has been applied in raster-scan transmission and reflection imaging of pellets of sucrose and tartaric acid simulating common plastic explosives. Transmittance values are in good agreement with Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy data. The spatial distribution of the components in the samples has been determined from the transmission data using principal component analysis.
A focal-plane array (FPA) for room-temperature detection of 0.65-THz radiation has been fully integrated in a low-cost 0.25 mum CMOS process technology. The circuit architecture is based on the ...principle of distributed resistive self-mixing and facilitates broadband direct detection well beyond the cutoff frequency of the technology. The 3 timesZ 5 pixel array consists of differential on-chip patch antennas, NMOS direct detectors, and integrated 43-dB voltage amplifiers. At 0.65 THz the FPA achieves a responsivity ( Rv ) of 80 kV/W and a noise equivalent power (NEP) of 300 pW/ radic{Hz}. Active multi-pixel imaging of postal envelopes demonstrates the FPAs potential for future cost-effective terahertz imaging solutions.
Charge density waves (CDWs), i.e. the periodic spatial modulation of coupled electronic and lattice density, are ubiquitous in low-dimensional conductors and have taken on renewed relevance due their ...role in state-of-the-art materials, e.g. high-T
superconductors, topological insulators and low-dimensional carbon. As CDWs are described by a complex order parameter to represent both the amplitude and phase, they are formally analogous to BCS superconductors and spin-waves, providing a prototype of collective phenomena for the further development of field theories and ab-initio calculations of complex solids. The low-energy excitations are mixed electron-phonon quanta which ideally separate into an amplitude and phase channel, and provide a sensitive probe of the ground state and non-equilibrium dynamics, including ultrafast photoinduced phase transitions. While recent studies of the amplitude modes have brought substantial progress aided by a phenomenological Ginzburg-Landau framework, we focus here on the phase modes using ultrafast terahertz spectroscopy. Experiments on K
MoO
provide a more complete picture, and reveal a high sensitivity to interactions with impurities and screening effects from photogenerated carriers, both of which can be accounted for by generalizations of the model. Moreover, our considerations emphasize the need to revisit the treatment of inherent electronic damping in quantum-mechanical CDW theories.
We review the generation of broadband THz radiation from femtosecond photo‐induced gas plasmas, with an emphasis on the highly efficient “AC‐bias” case where the plasma is generated and driven by a ...superposition of fundamental and second‐harmonic optical fields. The dependence on experimental parameters such as pulse energy, air pressure, polarization and focusing are presented, and compared to the predictions from semi‐quantitative models for the THz generation process, namely (i) a microscopic photocurrent model and (ii) a four‐wave mixing model. We also employ these models to the case of few‐cycle pulses, where the observed THz emission is related directly to the carrier‐envelope phase of the pulses, and hence provides a mechanism with which to measure this phase.}
In this paper, a fishnet-based metamaterial for the microwave X-band frequencies is introduced and investigated both numerically and experimentally. The main innovation introduced here is that the ...structure is composed of dielectric and metallic parts in such a way that there is no connection between the metallic part of the metamaterial and the waveguide. The homogeneous-effective-medium theory is employed for the characterization of the structure. A left-handed region is identified using the simulated and experimental results. The performance of the structure is described by a figure-of-merit calculation. The measured results are in good agreement with the simulated ones which show that the proposed metamaterial operates well like a fishnet metamaterial at around 10 GHz.
We report on the observation of coherent terahertz (THz) emission from the quasi-one-dimensional charge-density wave (CDW) system, blue bronze (K0.3MoO3), upon photo-excitation with ultrashort ...near-infrared optical pulses. The emission contains a broadband, low-frequency component due to the photo-Dember effect, which is present over the whole temperature range studied (30-300 K), as well as a narrow-band doublet centered at 1.5 THz, which is only observed in the CDW state and results from the generation of coherent transverse-optical phonons polarized perpendicular to the incommensurate CDW b-axis. As K0.3MoO3 is centrosymmetric, the lowest-order generation mechanism which can account for the polarization dependence of the phonon emission involves either a static surface field or quadrupolar terms due to the optical field gradients at the surface. This phonon signature is also present in the ground-state conductivity, and decays in strength with increasing temperature to vanish above T ∼ 100 K , i.e. significantly below the CDW transition temperature. The temporal behavior of the phonon emission can be well described by a simple model with two coupled modes, which initially oscillate with opposite polarity.
This paper reports on field-effect-transistor-based terahertz detectors for the operation at discrete frequencies spanning from 0.2 to 4.3 THz. They are implemented using a 150-nm CMOS process ...technology, employ self-mixing in the n-channels of the transistors and operate well above the transistors' cutoff frequency. The theoretical description of device operation by Dyakonov and Shur is extended in order to describe the device impedance, responsivity, and noise-equivalent power for a novel detection concept, which couples the signal to the drain. This approach enables quasi-static (QS) detection and calibration of the detectors. The different transport regimes (i.e., QS, distributed resistive, and plasmonic mixing) and their transitions are theoretically discussed and experimentally accessed. Responsivity values of 350 V/W at 595 GHz, 30 V/W at 2.9 THz, and 5 V/W at 4.1 THz are reported. At 0.595 THz, we determine the optical noise equivalent power (NEP) to be 42 pW/√Hz ; at 2.9 THz, the value is 487 pW/√Hz. All values are reported for optimum gate bias with respect to NEP at 295 K. For 0.595 THz, theory predicts a NEP value at threshold as low as 2 pW/√Hz for ideal coupling of the radiation.
Many THz applications require detection of sub-picosecond THz pulses. Electronic detectors, in particular, can address this challenge. We report on the detection of sub-picosecond THz pulses ...generated by a large-area interdigitated photoconductive antenna using a AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistor with integrated bow-tie antenna. We demonstrate that the detector's photoresponse is linear in a wide range of gate bias voltages regarding the available THz radiation power with peak power levels of a few hundreds of milliwatts. We apply an autocorrelation technique to investigate the spectral response of our detector within a bandwidth exceeding 1 THz. We observe an unexpected frequency roll-off of responsivity, which can not be predicted using a framework of standard distributed transmission line theory. However, we show that the data can be understood if one accounts for only partial plasmon screening by the gate electrode, so that the results adhere simply to the distributed resistive mixing approximation, whereby the device suffers from the observed roll-off. This indicates, that for novel detectors and radiation sources, which intend to utilize plasma waves, it is important to ensure efficient screening by the gate electrode.
We explore the application of terahertz spectroscopic techniques for the remote determination of the water content of paper. The aim is the development of a rapid diagnostic imaging tool applicable ...in paper fabrication processes. THz radiation offers a high sensitivity for water, a good spatial resolution, and insensitivity to scattering at the paper surface. The advent of THz cameras makes fast large-area image detectors feasible. In this paper, we show for the case of a 0.6-THz fixed-frequency system, that the water content of paper can be determined with high accuracy. We demonstrate a quantitative (calibrated) method for determining the moisture content in paper based on extinction and phase measurements in the lower THz range with a spatial resolution in the mm-range and scanning times below two minutes.
PDF
