We demonstrate video rate THz imaging in both reflection and transmission by frequency upconverting the THz image to the near-IR. In reflection, the ability to resolve images generated at different depths is shown. By mixing the THz pulses with a portion of the fiber laser pump (1064 nm) in a quasi-phase matched gallium arsenide crystal, distinct sidebands are observed at 1058 nm and 1070 nm, corresponding to sum and difference frequency generation of the pump pulse with the THz pulse. By using a polarizer and long pass filter, the strong pump light can be removed, leaving a nearly background free signal at 1070 nm. We have obtained video rate images with spatial resolution of 1mm and field of view ca. 20 mm in diameter without any post processing of the data.
We investigate the charge transport in nickel-titanium (Ni-Ti) alloy thin films using terahertz (THz) transmission
spectroscopy. Ni-Ti alloys have peculiar mechanical properties such as shape memory effects. Electrical conductivity
can be a good measure to characterize the alloy phase transitions, yet the carrier transport properties of this material are
relatively unexplored in the thin film regime. We grew 60-80-nm Ni-Ti alloy films of various Ti concentrations (0-
100%) on intrinsic Si substrates by Ar plasma sputtering. We carried out THz transmission spectroscopy of the samples
using broadband THz pulses. The broadband THz pulses were generated by optical rectification of femtosecond laser
pulses in a 1-mm ZnTe crystal. The light source was a 1-kHz Ti:sapphire amplifier producing 800-nm femtosecond
pulses (pulse energy, 1 mJ; pulse duration, 90 fs). The transmitted THz pulses were measured by either a L-He-cooled
Si:Bolometer (sensitive to time-averaged THz power) or by electro-optic (EO) sampling using a 1-mm ZnTe crystal.
Analyzing the power transmission data and the transmitted waveforms, we obtained the alloy resistivity as a function of
Ti concentration. Sharp changes in the resistivity were observed at the Ti fractions of 22%, 44% and 62%, indicating that
structural disorder is greatly enhanced when the alloy undergoes a phase transition.
We demonstrate THz imaging and time-domain spectroscopy of a single-layer graphene film. The large-area graphene
was grown by chemical vapor deposition on Cu-foil and subsequently transferred to a Si substrate. We took a
transmission image of the graphene/Si sample measured by a Si:bolometer (pixel size is 0.4-mm). The graphene film
(transmission: 36 - 41%) is clearly resolved against the background of the Si substrate (average transmission: 56.6%).
The strong THz absorption by the graphene layer indicates that THz carrier dynamics are dominated by intraband
transitions. A theoretical analysis based on the Fresnel coefficients for a metallic thin film shows that the local sheet
resistance varies across the sample from 420 to 590 Ohm, consistent with electron mobility ~ 3,000 cm2V-1s-1. We also
measured time-resolved THz waveforms through the Si substrate and the graphene/Si sample. The waveforms consist of
a series of single-cycle THz pulses: a directly transmitted pulse, then subsequent "echos" corresponding to multiple
reflections from the substrate. The amplitude difference between graphene/Si pulses and Si pulses becomes more
pronounced as the pulses undergo more reflections. From these measurements, we obtained spectrally flat transmission
spectra of the transmitted pulses and the average sheet resistance 480 Ohm, consistent with the results of the power
transmission measurement. The flat spectral responses indicate that the carrier scattering time in our graphene sample is
much shorter than the THz pulse duration.
Strong exciton-photon coupling in a high-Q microcavity leads to the formation of two new eigenstates, called excitonpolaritons.
We present the quantum dynamics of exciton-polaritons driven by strong few-cycle THz pulses. Our study
focuses on an intriguing question of how THz radiation interacts with the strongly coupled light-matter system. We
performed THz-pump and optical-probe experiments to answer the question: we observed the time-resolved optical
reflectivity of the lower and higher exciton-polariton (LEP and HEP) modes in a QW microcavity in the presence of
strong few-cycle THz pulses. In a previous study with a bare QW, a strong THz field tuned to the 1s-to-2p intraexciton
transition induced an excitonic Rabi splitting. Since THz radiation interacts only with the excitonic components of
exciton-polaritons and has no impact on cavity modes, it is an interesting question how THz radiation drives the excitonpolariton
states to higher energy states in the microcavity system. Our study shows that THz radiation resonantly drives
the exciton-polariton polarizations giving rise to LEP-to-2p or HEP-to-2p transitions. LEP-to-HEP transition is
forbidden because they have the same symmetry. Our experimental and theoretical investigations demonstrate that LEP,
HEP, and 2p-exciton states form a three-level Λ system in an optically excited QW microcavity.
The exciton binding energy in GaAs-based quantum-well (QW) structures is in the range of ~10 meV, which falls in the
THz regime. We have conducted a time-resolved study to observe the resonant interactions of strong narrowband THz
pulses with coherent excitons in QWs, where the THz radiation is tuned near the 1s-2p intraexciton transition and the
THz pulse duration (~3 ps) is comparable with the exciton dephasing time. The system of interest contains ten highquality
12-nm-wide GaAs QWs separated by 16-nm-wide Al 0.3Ga 0.7As barriers. The strong and narrowband THz pulses
were generated by two linearly-chirped and orthogonally-polarized optical pulses via type-II difference-frequency
generation in a 1-mm ZnTe crystal. The peak amplitude of the THz fields reached ~10 kV/cm. The strong THz fields
coupled the 1s and 2p exciton states, producing nonstationary dressed states. An ultrafast optical probe was employed to
observe the time-evolution of the dressed states of the 1s exciton level. The experimental observations show clear signs
of strong coupling between THz light and excitons and subsequent ultrafast dynamics of excitonic quantum coherence.
As a consequence, we demonstrate frequency conversion between optical and THz pulses induced by nonlinear
interactions of the THz pulses with excitons in semiconductor QWs.
Narrow-band, multi-cycle terahertz (THz) pulses have been generated in the pre-engineered domain structure
of periodically-poled lithium niobate (PPLN) crystals. The mechanism for THz generation is quasi-phase-matching
(QPM) optical rectification. Recently, THz generation of high conversion efficiency in a new material,
QPM GaAs, were demonstrated using mid-IR femtosecond pulses. GaAs has several advantages for QPM
THz wave generation, as compared to PPLN. First, it is highly transparent at THz frequencies (absorption
coefficient below 1.5 THz < 1 cm-1). Second, the mismatch between the optical group velocity and THz
phase velocity is much smaller: the corresponding group (ng) and refractive (n) indices are ng=3.431 at 2&mgr;m
and n=3.61 at 1 THz. In this work, we report on generation of THz wave packets in three different types of
QPM GaAs, combined with their coherent detection using two-color THz time-domain spectroscopy. The QPM
GaAs structures are optically-contacted GaAs, diffusion-bonded GaAs, and all-epitaxially-grown orientation patterned
GaAs. The QPM optical rectification in GaAs is a nonresonant mechanism, as opposed to widely used
photoconductive antenna technique in GaAs, where THz radiation is produced via ultrafast charge transport
caused by photoexcitation with femtosecond laser pulses of the near-IR range. In order to avoid linear and
two-photon absorption in GaAs, we use 2&mgr;m femtosecond pulses to generate THz pulses. We measure the THz
waveforms via electro-optic sampling in ZnTe using 0.8&mgr;m probe pulses. The corresponding power spectra are
also measured by a THz Michelson interferometer. Frequency tunability in the range 0.8-3 THz is achieved with
several structure periods.
We demonstrate a novel terahertz (THz) pulse shaping technique, which guarantees ultimate flexibility for
arbitrary THz pulse generation. The THz pulse shaper consists of a fanned-out periodically-poled lithium
niobate (FO-PPLN) crystal-the domain width of the FO-PPLN crystal varies continuously across the lateral
direction-, a spatial mask, and a spherical mirror. Optical pulses are line-focused on the FO-PPLN crystal to
generate spatially separated multi-frequency components of THz pulses. The spatial mask is placed in front of
the FO-PPLN crystal in order to manipulate the spatial pattern of the incident optical beam, thus to control the
amplitudes of the spatially dispersed THz frequency components. Spectral resolution of this method is determined
by FO-PPLN bandwidth and mask resolution: estimated practical resolution is ≈0.01 THz for 1 THz bandwidth.
After the spherical mirror assembles the various frequencies into a single collimated beam, a shaped THz pulse
can be obtained, with the pulse shape determined by the Fourier transform of the pattern transferred by the
mask. As a proof-of-principle experiment, we measured THz waveforms using metal masks. The experiment was
performed using 800-nm, 100-fs pulses from a 1-kHz Ti:sapphire regenerative amplifier. We used a 5-mm long
FO-PPLN sample (width = 10 mm, height = 0.5 mm) continuously tunable from 0.6 to 1.5 THz. We tested the
metal masks of three different spatial patterns: low-pass filter, high-pass filter, and double slit. The experimental
results show that the THz waveforms are determined by the spatial patterns of the masks.
We report a new highly efficient source of frequency-tunable (0.5-3.5 THz) narrow-bandwidth terahertz wave packets with up to 1 mW average power, based on parametric down-conversion in quasi-phase-matched GaAs. Different lasers were employed as a pump source, including femtosecond OPA/DFG system (wavelength range 2-4μm), Tm-fiber femtosecond laser (wavelength ~2μm), and near-degenerate synchronously-pumped picosecond OPO system with extra- and intracavity THz generation. We prove experimentally that the optical-to-terahertz conversion efficiency is fluence-dependent, with the scaling factor being the same for femtosecond (optical rectification) and picosecond (difference frequency generation) pump pulses, with optical-to-terahertz conversion efficiency on the order of 0.1% per μJ.
We demonstrate an efficient room temperature source of narrow-bandwidth terahertz (THz) radiation using femtosecond pump pulses and periodic GaAs structure as a nonlinear material. In the past, several THz generation schemes exploited optical rectification in nonlinear crystals using femtosecond laser technology. Most of them generated single-cycle THz-pulses with broad bandwidth, using nonlinear crystals shorter than the phase-matching coherence length. Recently a novel technique to generate multi-cycle THz-pulses in the pre-engineered domain structure of periodically-poled lithium niobate (PPLN) crystals has been demonstrated. Quasi-phase matching (QPM) structures such as PPLN consist of a periodic system of domains of inverted crystal orientation. The sign of second order nonlinear polarization generated by femtosecond pulses is inverted at domain boundaries. If domain length is comparable with coherence length, QPM between THz-wave and nonlinear polarization extends the
interaction length between THz and optical pulses. In the present
work, using periodic GaAs structures we have achieved exceptionally high photon as well as energy conversion efficiency: 3% and 0.07% respectively. We have examined two different types of periodic QPM GaAs samples: diffusion-bonded GaAs wafers and all-epitaxially-grown orientation-patterned GaAs crystals with 3-10 mm thicknesses. The incident optical pulse energy was in the micro-Joule range and pulse duration was ~100 fsec. We measured spectral properties of THz radiation using Michelson interferometer and a bolometer. Narrow-bandwidth (~100GHz) THz output, tunable between 1 and 3 THz, was achieved. THz frequency was tuned either by tuning the light source wavelength between 2 and 4.4 microns, or by selecting GaAs samples with different QPM periods. Our theoretical analysis, based on known GaAs dispersion properties, shows good agreement between the measured and predicted THz frequencies.
We demonstrate control of terahertz (THz) waves developing novel
devices in the THz regime: THz pulse shapers. THz technology is a
relatively unexplored subject, yet the importance of THz wave
manipulation cannot be emphasized enough considering its potential
application to THz imaging systems, ultrafast optical signal
processing, ultrahigh-speed computing, quantum information
science, nanotechnology, and chemical reaction dynamics among
other areas. THz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) can assess the
performance of the THz pulse shapers monitoring time-dependent THz
wave propagation. THz-TDS permits precise measurements not only of
the amplitude but also of the phase of THz waves, thus a
comprehensive assessment of the THz devices can be achieved. The
phase sensitivity is also vital to many applications such as
high-contrast THz imaging and quantum control of semiconductor
nanostructures. We develop arbitrary THz pulse generators
synthesizing THz waveforms via optical rectification in
pre-engineered domain structures of poled nonlinear crystals using
femtosecond lasers. The terahertz waveforms coincide with the
crystal domain structures. The one dimensional nonlinear wave
equation simulates the experimental results with a good
qualitative agreement. The ratio of the domain length to the
optical pulse length in the crystal turns out to be the crucial
limiting factor to generating optimum terahertz fields and
preventing waveform distortion. Optical pulse shaping techniques
is integrated into the THz pulse generators to extend the scope of
THz pulse shaping control. Continuously tunable narrow-band THz
pulses are generated in a fanned-out periodically-poled lithium
niobate crystal. We measure the free induction decay of rotational
transitions in gas-phase HCl molecules using the narrow-band THz
pulses. The shape of the multi-cycle THz pulses is controlled by
adjusting the relative time delay and intensity between the two
optical pulses.
Solid state femtosecond lasers enable powerful new nonlinear optical spectroscopic characterization techniques for technologically relevant Column IV and III-V semiconductor interfaces and growth surfaces.
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