全光纤耦合异步光学采样THz-TDS系统

针对传统THz-TDS系统利用机械步进延迟线进行采样扫描的方式获取太赫兹时域谱使得检测信号速度慢等缺点,设计了全光纤耦合快速异步光学扫描THz-TDS系统,该系统利用以锁相环(PLL)和直接频率合成器(DDS)为核心的电子系统精确控制两台飞秒激光器重复频率,使之有较小的固定频差,使两台飞秒激光器的脉冲之间产生周期性呈线性增长的相位延迟,实现了一个脉冲对另一个脉冲的毫秒级快速扫描. 结果表明,该系统对太赫兹脉冲的扫描时间缩短为2ms,实际采样频率可达到1GHz. 有效解决了以往太赫兹光谱检测速度慢、便携性差等问题,从而进一步拓展了太赫兹光谱测量的应用范围.      

太赫兹技术在通信方面的研究进展

随着超快激光技术的发展以及人们对THz波段及脉冲光源认识的进一步深入,太赫兹技术作为一种新的,快速发展的技术在许多领域备受关注.尤其在安全检测及反恐、医疗诊断及生物技术、物体成像、电子对抗及信息领域等的应用方面,太赫兹技术已经得到了广泛的应用.并显示出了它的广阔的应用前景.着重介绍了与微波技术和红外技术相比,太赫兹技术应用于通信方面的一些独特的优势,以及与通信相关的太赫兹技术的进展情况,还初步地探讨了太赫兹通信技术亟待解决的问题.     

Experimental observation of electron-hole recollisions

An intense laser field can remove an electron from an atom or molecule and pull the electron into a large-amplitude oscillation in which it repeatedly collides with the charged core it left behind. Such recollisions result in the emission of very energetic photons by means of high-order-harmonic generation, which has been observed in atomic and molecular gases as well as in a bulk crystal. An exciton is an atom-like excitation of a solid in which an electron that is excited from the valence band is bound by the Coulomb interaction to the hole it left behind. It has been predicted that recollisions between electrons and holes in excitons will result in a new phenomenon: high-order-sideband generation. In this process, excitons are created by a weak near-infrared laser of frequency f(NIR). An intense laser field at a much lower frequency, f(THz), then removes the electron from the exciton and causes it to recollide with the resulting hole. New emission is predicted to occur as sidebands of frequency f(NIR)?+?2nf(THz), where n is an integer that can be much greater than one. Here we report the observation of high-order-sideband generation in semiconductor quantum wells. Sidebands are observed up to eighteenth order (+18f(THz), or n = 9). The intensity of the high-order sidebands decays only weakly with increasing sideband order, confirming the non-perturbative nature of the effect. Sidebands are strongest for linearly polarized terahertz radiation and vanish when the terahertz radiation is circularly polarized. Beyond their fundamental scientific significance, our results suggest a new mechanism for the ultrafast modulation of light, which has potential applications in terabit-rate optical communications.     

温度对LiNbO3 晶体THz辐射产生效率的影响

利用超短激光脉冲泵浦电光晶体LiNbO₃产生脉冲THz辐射, 并用非线性光学差频原理解释了THz的产生机制. 改变泵浦激光能量, 实验结果表明, THz脉冲波形的最大振幅与泵浦激光能量为平方关系, 随泵浦能量的增大, 晶体温度逐渐升高, 增加了对所产生THz辐射的吸收, 并逐渐偏离平方关系. 通过降低晶体温度, 减小TO声子-极化子因非谐振衰减为两个声学声子而引起的THz吸收, 提高了THz的产生效率.      

多层电磁超材料在太赫兹技术中的应用研究进展

基于电磁超材料的电磁谐振通过合理设计可以实现太赫兹波段的频率响应,为太赫兹波调控开辟了新的道路,特别是利用多层电磁超材料设计的太赫兹功能器件.本文综述了当前国内外基于多层电磁超材料在太赫兹波段技术的应用研究进展,分类介绍了其在太赫兹滤波器、吸收器、偏振器等方面的应用,最后对多层超材料在太赫兹技术应用的发展趋势作了探讨.     

Active terahertz metamaterial devices

The development of artificially structured electromagnetic materials, termed metamaterials, has led to the realization of phenomena that cannot be obtained with natural materials. This is especially important for the technologically relevant terahertz (1 THz = 10(12) Hz) frequency regime; many materials inherently do not respond to THz radiation, and the tools that are necessary to construct devices operating within this range-sources, lenses, switches, modulators and detectors-largely do not exist. Considerable efforts are underway to fill this 'THz gap' in view of the useful potential applications of THz radiation. Moderate progress has been made in THz generation and detection; THz quantum cascade lasers are a recent example. However, techniques to control and manipulate THz waves are lagging behind. Here we demonstrate an active metamaterial device capable of efficient real-time control and manipulation of THz radiation. The device consists of an array of gold electric resonator elements (the metamaterial) fabricated on a semiconductor substrate. The metamaterial array and substrate together effectively form a Schottky diode, which enables modulation of THz transmission by 50 per cent, an order of magnitude improvement over existing devices.     

光学整流产生和电光取样探测THz辐射的数值模拟

从麦克斯韦方程出发,得到光学整流方法产生THz辐射的电场的表达式以及自由空间电光取样系统探测到的电光信号与入射的THz辐射电场之间的理论关系式,并选取GaAs为产生晶体,ZnTe为探测晶体,通过数值模拟讨论激光脉冲宽度、产生晶体和探测晶体厚度这三个主要的实验因素对THz光谱的影响。     

An investigation on terahertz response in electro-optic crystals excited at 1.03 lm wavelength

We theoretically investigate terahertz(THz)emission and detection from h110i-oriented electro-optic(EO) crystals adapted for Yb-doped femtosecond pulse laser.According to the principles of phase-matching condition, the dispersion relation between optical velocity and THz pulse,THz absorption spectra, and coherence lengths of CdTe, GaP,and GaAs crystals below the phonon resonant frequency are calculated correspondingly. The optical rectification and EO sampling process of above crystals with the same thickness of0.1 mm are simulated. As a consequence, we found that the optimal emission frequency of CdTe is at 2.65 THz, however,it reaches 6.56 THz of GaAs and 4.77 THz of GaP. With the help of frequency response function, the calculated cut-off frequency of CdTe is only 3.45 THz, while GaAs and GaP achieve 7.15 and 6.37 THz correspondingly. Finally, the EO sampling sensitivity of GaAs is higher than CdTe and GaP when the crystal's thickness exceeds 1.58 mm. The strong THz absorption of CdTe saturates distinctly the EO sampling sensitivity with its thickness increasing.     

苯丙氨酸的太赫兹光谱测试与理论研究

采用太赫兹时域光谱（THz-TDS）技术,在室温氮气环境下对固态苯丙氨酸进行了光谱测试,获得了样品在THz波段的特征吸收谱,发现苯丙氨酸样品在有效光谱范围（0.2～2.2 THz）内有两个明显的特征吸收峰,分别位于1.23和1.99THz处.用从头算理论,在HF/6-31G水平下对苯丙氨酸分子进行结构优化和频率计算,得到了样品在0.1～10 THz的振动频谱.在有效光谱范围内,理论计算结果与实验相互对应且符合较好,同时根据计算结果对实验中特征吸收的振动模式进行了指认.     

基于THz-TDS技术的钢板锈蚀厚度的无损检测

针对现有无损检测技术对钢板材料早期锈蚀厚度难以实现精确检测的问题,基于非接触无损的太赫兹时域光谱（THz-TDS）技术,利用太赫兹（THz）波对非极性材料的透射性及对极性金属材料的反射性,测定了锈蚀产物的光学参数信息和钢板的锈蚀层厚度. 试验结果表明,在有效频率0.2~1.6 THz范围内,锈蚀产物的折射率近似为2.8. 反射THz信号的第一相对幅值与样品的锈蚀时间呈对数函数关系,且与锈蚀时间的倒数呈线性关系. 试验结果还表明,钢板样品锈蚀层厚度随锈蚀时间的增加呈线性递增关系,且利用THz技术测定的厚度值准确率达到90%以上. 从而证明了非接触式THz-TDS技术对钢板锈蚀厚度检测的可行性和精确性.     

An investigation on terahertz response in electro-optic crystals excited at 1.03 μm wavelength

We theoretically investigate terahertz （THz） emission and detection from （ll0）-oriented electro-optic （EO） crystals adapted for Yb-doped femtosecond pulse laser. According to the principles of phase-matching condition, the dispersion relation between optical velocity and THz pulse, THz absorption spectra, and coherence lengths of CdTe, GaP, and GaAs crystals below the phonon resonant frequency are calculated correspondingly. The optical rectification and EO sampling process of above crystals with the same thickness of 0.1 mm are simulated. As a consequence, we found that the optimal emission frequency of CdTe is at 2.65 THz, however, it reaches 6.56 THz of GaAs and 4.77 THz of GaP. With the help of frequency response function, the calculated cut-off frequency of CdTe is only 3.45 THz, while GaAs and GaP achieve 7.15 and 6.37 THz correspondingly. Finally, the EO sampling sensitivity of GaAs is higher than CdTe and GaP when the crystal＇s thickness exceeds 1.58 mm. The strong THz absorption of CdTe saturates distinctly the EO sampling sensitivity with its thickness increasing.     

For progress in natural science: Materials international investigations of structural phase transformation and THz properties across metal–insulator transition in VO_2/Al_2O_3 epitaxial films

Vanadium dioxide (VO2) epitaxial thin films on (0001)-oriented Al2O3 substrates were prepared using radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering techniques. To study the metal-insulator-transition (MIT) mechanism and extend the applications of VO2 epitaxial films at terahertz (THz) band, temperature-dependent X-ray diffraction (XRD) and THz time domain spectroscopy of the VO2 epitaxial films were performed. Both the lattice constants and THz transmission exhibited a similar and sharp transition that was similar to that observed for the electrical resistance. Consequently, the MIT of the VO2/Al2O3 epitaxial films should be co-triggered by the structural phase transition and electronic transition. Moreover, the very large resistance change (on the order of ~103) and THz response (with a transmission modulation ratio of ~87%) in the VO2/Al2O3 epitaxial heterostructures are promising for electrical switch and electro-optical device applications.     

基于子带跃迁的非对称GaAs量子阱的三阶非线性系数研究

设计了一种适用于CO2激光器双波长泵浦的非对称结构的Al0.2Ga0.8As/GaAs/Al0.5Ga0.5As量子阱结构,用以差频产生THz波.运用密度矩阵理论和迭代方法计算了这种非对称量子阱的三阶非线性系数,并研究了其随两束差频泵浦光波长的变化.结果表明,量子阱对两束差频泵浦光的三阶非线性系数x（3）ω1和x（3）ω2随两束泵浦光波长的增大都是出现先增大再减小的变化趋势,峰值都位于9.756μm（λp2=10.64μ m）和10.96μm（λp1=9.69μm）,相应的峰值大小为1.185×10-20m2V-2、8.002×10-21m2V-2和2.98×10-19m2V-2和8.565×10-20m2V-2.     

Design and demonstration of a 0.22 THz gyrotron oscillator

Gyrotrons are the most powerful terahertz sources and have potential applications in many areas. A terahertz gyrotron oscillator with a pulsed solenoid producing up to an 8 T magnetic field has been designed, constructed and tested. In a 7.96 T magnetic field, 3 kW output power radiations at 0.22 THz frequency have been generated. Supported by the State Key Development Program of Basic Research of China (Grant No. 2007CB310400) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 1067611)     

Recent progress in terahertz science and technology

The relatively new technique of coherent electromagnetic radiation, in the region of 1012 Hz, has potential to detect the nature of low energy processes in physics, chemistry and biomedicine. In this review article, an overview of recent progress of terahertz (THz) science and technology is presented. The development of the THz generation and detection system, the THz radiation applications which include THz time-domain spectroscopy and T-ray imaging, and the future potential of THz wave research are discussed.     

Research of the terahertz dual-band notch filter based on FSS structures

In this paper, a dual-band notch filter for two-layer frequency selective surface （FSS） at terahertz （THz） frequency with high fil- tering performance has been realized on high-resistivity silicon substrates. With periodic metallic resonators patterned on the sili- con wafer, the designed filter can provide two tunable resonant frequencies for terahertz application. The transmission response was improved by introducing an extra surrounding pattern around the T-shaped structure, and the location of transmission drop was tuned independently with geometric parameters. Simulated by finite-integral time-domain method, the filter is designed to operate between 0.2 and 0.6 THz with dual-band band-stop performance, a salient feature of this design is making the low sensi- tivity of its frequency response to the incident angles, which allows to place the filter close to the radiation source with spherical wave fronts. The proposed structures were fabricated using photolithography and tested by THz time-domain spectroscopy system Experimental results show that the transmission response has more than 12 and 32 dB rejections near 285 and 460 GHz respectively, which is in good agreement with the simulation result.     

基于太赫兹时域光谱技术的地沟油检测与识别

油脂大分子的振动和转动频率均处在太赫兹波段,与太赫兹波相互作用可产生共振反应,因此太赫兹时域光谱技术（THz TDS）可以快速灵敏地实现正规油和地沟油的检测与识别。通过对正规油（全新采购）、类地沟油（煎炸处理）和地沟油（回收处理）在0.3~1.6 THz波段的时域和频域光谱进行对比,并分析其延迟时间、折射率、吸收系数和吸收峰等光学参数的差异,提取了地沟油的太赫兹光谱的特征信息,为地沟油的检测与识别提供了实验依据和有效方法。结果表明,利用光谱特征信息和地沟油特有官能团信息,太赫兹时域光谱技术可有效区分正规油与地沟油。     

堆叠多层石墨烯的太赫兹电导研究

单层石墨烯具有可调的太赫兹电导,有望应用于制作新型太赫兹器件,然而这种调谐的变化范围有限,通过多层石墨烯的堆叠可以拓展石墨烯太赫兹器件的性能上限。本文通过太赫兹时域光谱研究了石英衬底上不同层数堆叠的石墨烯的太赫兹透过特性,并使用Drude模型以及菲涅尔定律对实验结果进行了理论模拟。实验数据与理论结果的匹配表明:随机堆叠的多层石墨烯在太赫兹波段可以看作没有电子耦合的多个单层石墨烯,其太赫兹电导具有更宽的调谐范围,同时化学掺杂可以进一步提高材料的载流子浓度,从而获得更高的太赫兹电导。     

Metal wires for terahertz wave guiding

Sources and systems for far-infrared or terahertz (1 THz = 10(12) Hz) radiation have received extensive attention in recent years, with applications in sensing, imaging and spectroscopy. Terahertz radiation bridges the gap between the microwave and optical regimes, and offers significant scientific and technological potential in many fields. However, waveguiding in this intermediate spectral region still remains a challenge. Neither conventional metal waveguides for microwave radiation, nor dielectric fibres for visible and near-infrared radiation can be used to guide terahertz waves over a long distance, owing to the high loss from the finite conductivity of metals or the high absorption coefficient of dielectric materials in this spectral range. Furthermore, the extensive use of broadband pulses in the terahertz regime imposes an additional constraint of low dispersion, which is necessary for compatibility with spectroscopic applications. Here we show how a simple waveguide, namely a bare metal wire, can be used to transport terahertz pulses with virtually no dispersion, low attenuation, and with remarkable structural simplicity. As an example of this new waveguiding structure, we demonstrate an endoscope for terahertz pulses.     

半绝缘GaAs光电导天线辐射THz电磁波展宽特性分析

介绍了自洽式多粒子蒙特卡罗方法模拟半绝缘GaAs光电导天线辐射THz电磁时域波形。模型中采用光能、脉宽可调飞秒激光器作为触发光源,模拟的THz电磁波形与实验基本吻合。通过载流子在光电导体内的动态输运特性,分析了辐射THz电磁波场比触发光脉冲展宽的物理机制在于:光生载流子在外电场作用下,从初始状态到速度达到稳态要经历一个动量和能量弛豫过程,而正是由于载流子动量和能量的弛豫过程导致光电导天线辐射的太赫兹波展宽。高光能、低偏置电场下,空间电荷电场是造成光电导天线辐射的THz波呈现双极性的主要原因。