太赫兹波段表面等离子光子学研究进展

表面等离子光子学是研究金属、 半导体纳米结构材料独特的光学特性, 是目前光子学中最有吸引力、 发展最快的领域之一. 伴随着微/纳制造技术与计算机模拟技术的进步, 表面等离子光子学在可见光、 红外、 太赫兹以及微波频域得到了广泛研究, 在高灵敏生化传感、 亚波长光波导、 近场光学显微、 纳米光刻等领域有潜在的应用价值. 特别是人工超材料的发展, 为自然界长期缺乏响应太赫兹波的材料和器件奠定了基础, 从而也促进了太赫兹波段表面等离子光子学的研究. 本文从太赫兹表面等离子波的激发、 传导、 最新应用及未来发展趋势等几个方面进行了回顾和讨论, 将最新研究成果展示给读者.     

基于闪锌矿晶体中受激电磁耦子散射产生可调谐太赫兹波的理论研究

基于受激电磁耦子散射原理,采用已报道的利用非线性光学参量振荡方法产生可调谐太赫兹波的实验条件作为理论分析的实验模型,以GaAs,GaP, InP,ZnTe晶体为代表,计算分析了在闪锌矿晶体中参量振荡产生太赫兹波的吸收、增益特性,对输出THz波的调谐特性给出了详尽分析.分析太赫兹波高效耦合输出的腔型结构,并与掺氧化镁铌酸锂晶体组成的太赫兹波参量振荡器做对比. 关键词： 太赫兹波 太赫兹波参量振荡 电磁耦子 闪锌矿晶体     

太赫兹波段电磁超材料吸波器折射率传感特性

太赫兹超材料吸波器作为一类重要的超材料功能器件,除了可以实现对入射太赫兹波的完美吸收外,还可以作为折射率传感器实现对周围环境信息变化的捕捉与监测.通常从优化表面金属谐振单元结构和改变介质层材料和形态两个方面出发,改善太赫兹超材料吸波器的传感特性.为深入研究中间介质层对太赫兹超材料吸波器传感特性的影响,本文基于金属开口谐振环阵列设计实现了具有连续介质层、非连续介质层和微腔结构的3款太赫兹超材料吸波器,并对其传感特性与传感机理进行了深入研究.结果表明,为了提高太赫兹超材料吸波器的折射率灵敏度、最大探测范围等传感特性,除了可以选用相对介电常数较小的材料作为中间介质层外,还可以改变中间介质层的形态,进而减小中间介质层对谐振场的束缚,增强谐振场与被测分析物之间的耦合.与传统的具有连续介质层的太赫兹超材料吸波器相比,具有非连续介质层和微腔结构的超材料吸波器具有更优越的传感特性,可应用于对待测分析物的高灵敏度、快速检测,在未来的传感领域具有更加广阔的应用前景.     

级联参量振荡产生太赫兹辐射的理论研究

针对光学参量振荡产生太赫兹波转换效率低的缺点, 提出了级联参量振荡产生太赫兹波的新机理以提高转换效率. 以周期极化铌酸锂晶体为例, 对级联参量振荡产生太赫兹波的原理和过程进行了理论研究. 分析了抽运光波长、周期极化铌酸锂晶体极化周期和工作温度对产生一阶、二阶闲频光频率的影响. 推导了三波共线相互作用条件下太赫兹波的增益特性和吸收特性. 计算结果表明, 通过级联参量振荡可以有效提高太赫兹波的转换效率, 并可以得到宽调谐的太赫兹波输出. 基于分析结果, 设计了周期极化铌酸锂晶体级联参量振荡产生高效率、宽调谐、窄线宽、连续太赫兹波的实验. 关键词： 太赫兹波 太赫兹波参量振荡 级联参量振荡     

基于液晶空间光调制器的太赫兹波频谱调制

频谱可调制的太赫兹波具有广泛的应用价值。利用一台纯相位式的液晶空间光调制器对飞秒激光脉冲进行空间整形,通过改变飞秒激光脉冲的横向空间分布,实现太赫兹波频谱的调制。在实验中,利用光泵浦整流方式产生太赫兹波,并利用太赫兹时域光谱系统对太赫兹信号进行探测。通过GS算法在液晶空间光调制器上加载不同的相位图,获得了不同的飞秒激光脉冲横向空间分布。通过改变探测距离和飞秒脉冲的空间分布参数,实现了太赫兹波频谱的调制。还利用菲涅尔衍射算法对这一过程进行了理论模拟,理论模拟结果与实验结果吻合的较好,这充分说明了基于飞秒脉冲空间整形的太赫兹光谱调制技术的可行性。     

利用空气来探测脉冲太赫兹波

曾有报道利用飞秒激光脉冲通过空气中的三阶光学非线性过程产生高强度的太赫兹波．理论上，作为太赫兹波产生的逆过程，有可能实现用空气作为介质探测脉冲太赫兹波．作者以空气或激光诱导的空气等离子体作为介质，通过测量太赫兹波场诱导产生的二次谐波信号，首次实现了宽带太赫兹波的时间分辨探测，本文介绍了空气中太赫兹波的非相干和相干探测的实验结果和理论分析．迄今为止，这种具有突破意义的太赫兹波空气电离相干探测法（THz-ABCD）的频谱宽度可以超过8THz，实现动态范围可达30dB。     

碳纳米管薄膜周期结构的太赫兹表面等离子波特性研究

在获得太赫兹波段碳纳米管薄膜的介电特性基础上,利用数值THz时域光谱技术研究了碳纳米管薄膜栅周期结构的表面等离子激元的传播特性和局域化现象. 研究结果表明,在栅周期为168 μm时,频率在0.5-2.5 THz之间出现两个等离子模式的共振峰值,分别位于0.99 THz和1.95 THz,这与理论计算结果相符合. 数值计算的表面等离子激元传播距离与理论预测值相一致,达到了146 μm. 此外,分析了栅厚度与栅宽度变化对表面等离子波特性的影响. 关键词： 太赫兹 碳纳米管 表面等离子波     

碳纳米管辐射太赫兹波的理论分析与数值验证

基于简单紧束缚方法理论,利用一维碳纳米管的量子化周期边界条件得到了碳纳米管的电子能级结构关系.并结合已报道的碳纳米管中电子与声子相互作用的实验结果,得到了碳纳米管能够辐射太赫兹波的结论.通过数值结果验证了碳纳米管在外场作用下能够产生太赫兹波,并对数值计算结果中太赫兹波的振荡现象给予合理的解释.其结果为进行碳纳米管产生太赫兹辐射的实验研究提供深入的理论基础. 关键词： 太赫兹波 碳纳米管     

太赫兹波在非磁化等离子体中的传输特性研究

本文对太赫兹波在非磁化等离子体中的传输特性进行了理论和实验研究,得到了非磁化等离子体中太赫兹波传输特性随太赫兹波频率、等离子体密度、碰撞频率和厚度的变化规律．发现了一些新的现象：随着太赫兹波频率增加,反射率曲线出现周期性振荡,振荡周期为0．03THz．随着太赫兹波频率增加,振荡幅度增加：随着等离子体密度增加,振荡幅度减小;随着等离子体碰撞频率增加,振荡幅度增加．反射率曲线出现振荡的原因是电磁波在z=0和z=-d界面处的多次反射所致．以激波管为实验平台进行了0．22THz太赫兹波在等离子体中传输特性的实验研究,实验结果和理论结果符合较好．理论和实验结果均表明,采用太赫兹来实现地面与飞行器之间的通信互联是解决黑障问题的可选途径之一．     

基于四波混频效应的窄带太赫兹波源

采用频率差在太赫兹范围的双波长激光器进行泵浦,利用光纤的四波混频效应,得到结构紧凑、频率可调的窄带太赫兹波源。为减小光纤材料对太赫兹波的吸收,采用了表面发射机制。从耦合波理论出发,详细分析了保偏光纤中的四波混频过程,得到了太赫兹波输出功率的解析表达式,并讨论了实现相位匹配的条件。结果表明,太赫兹波功率与泵浦光功率和光纤长度成正比,与太赫兹波长的3次方成反比。当泵浦光峰值功率为1 kW,在6 THz处得到的太赫兹波峰值功率达350 mW,功率转换效率约为0.01%。通过合理设置泵浦波长,可以实现太赫兹辐射在3~8 THz范围内连续调谐。该方案提供了一种新型的高功率、紧凑型的窄带太赫兹辐射源。     

Optical generation of terahertz plasmons on comb-shaped surface of metal

The possibilities of a recently proposed (Opt. Express 17, 9323 (2009)) method for generating terahertz surface plasmons on a microstructured (comb-shaped) metal surface using a nonlinear polarization pulse that moves with a superluminal velocity and is induced by an ultrashort laser pulse in a strip of electrooptic material deposited on the surface are theoretically studied. For an arbitrary direction of motion of the nonlinear source along the comb-shaped surface, fields of excited terahertz plasmons and the angular spectral distribution of the radiated energy are calculated. It is shown that the spectral and energy characteristics of plasmons can be efficiently controlled by varying the direction of motion of the source. Conditions (parameters of the comb-shaped structure, direction and velocity of motion of the source) that ensure the maximal efficiency of the optical-to-terahertz conversion are found. The developed method of terahertz generation is promising for surface terahertz spectroscopy.     

等离激元增强的石墨烯光吸收

石墨烯中等离激元具有特殊的光电性质,其和入射光的强烈耦合可以引起光吸收的增强.本文基于时域有限差分法和多体自洽场理论研究了等离激元对处于光学谐振腔中的石墨烯光吸收的影响.由于石墨烯中等离激元与入射光动量和能量不匹配而不能直接相互作用,因此石墨烯上施加了金属光栅结构.研究发现光栅结构能够对入射光进行动量补偿并且能够引起其下石墨烯中的电场强度产生很大程度增强,从而导致在该石墨烯结构中太赫兹等离激元和入射光发生强烈耦合而产生太赫兹等离极化激元,同时引起石墨烯光吸收的增强.希望本文能够加深对石墨烯光电特性的理解以及可以为基于石墨烯的太赫兹光电装置提供一定的理论依据.     

Direct observation of a transition of a surface plasmon resonance from a photonic crystal effect

Transition of surface-plasmon resonance from out-of-plane photonic crystal effect is observed in a semiconductor array of subwavelength holes by optical pump-terahertz probe measurements. The dielectric properties of the photoexcited array are essentially altered by the intense optical excitation due to photogenerated free carriers. As a result, the array becomes metallic and favors the coupling and propagation of surface plasmons. The photoinduced resonant extremes agree well with the Fano model.     

Band gaps in the spectra of terahertz surface plasmons on metallic diffraction gratings

The effect of the appearance of band gaps in the energy spectra of terahertz surface plasmons has been experimentally observed and investigated. The band gaps are formed due to the interference interaction of the surface plasmons excited by pulsed terahertz radiation on metallic diffraction gratings. It has been shown that the experimental dispersion curves of terahertz plasmons are in good agreement with the dispersion curves obtained in the numerical simulation.     

Waveguided spoof surface plasmons with deep-subwavelength lateral confinement

We present a new type of waveguide scheme for terahertz circuitry based on the concept of spoof surface plasmons. This structure is composed of a one-dimensional array of L-shaped metallic elements horizontally attached to a metal surface. The dispersion relation of the surface electromagnetic modes supported by this system presents a very weak dependence with the lateral dimension and the modes are very deep-subwavelength confined with a long-enough propagation length.     

Observation of a new type of THz resonance of surface plasmons propagating on metal-film hole arrays

Highly conducting metal-film subwavelength hole arrays, lithographically fabricated on high-resistivity silicon wafers in optical contact with thick silicon plates, have been characterized by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy with subpicosecond resolution and over a frequency range from 0.5 to 3 THz with 5 GHz resolution. A well-defined ringing structure extending to more than 250 psec is observed on the trailing edge of the transmitted THz pulse. In the frequency domain this ringing structure corresponds to a new type of extremely sharp resonant line structure between the fundamental surface plasmon modes of the hole array. A simple theoretical model is presented and shows good agreement with the experimental data.     

Surface plasmon tunneling through a touching gold nanocylinder array on a thin gold film

The optical property of a structure composed of a touching gold nanocylinder array on a thin gold film is investigated using finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. It is discovered that the transmission behavior can be tuned by tuning the geometry of the structure. As the film thickness increases, the transmission mode associated with the localized surface plasmon resonance blue shifts accompanied with a decrease of magnitude and full width at half maximum, and a second transmission appear due to the interaction of the plasmons on the cylinder with their images induced on the film. The localized waveguide resonance diminishes but the second resonance peak is intensified and broadened noticeably with the separation of the cylinder array and film increase. The cylinder radius size influences the localized surface plasmon resonance mode obviously. These results may be helpful for the design of a novel optical device.     

Terahertz-pulse emission through laser excitation of surface plasmons in a metal grating

The second-order processes of optical-rectification and photoconduction are well known and widely used to produce ultrafast electromagnetic pulses in the terahertz frequency domain. We present a new form of rectification that relies on the excitation of surface plasmons in metal films deposited on a shallow grating. Multiphoton ionization and ponderomotive acceleration of electrons in the enhanced evanescent field of the surface plasmons results in a femtosecond current surge and emission of terahertz electromagnetic radiation. Using gold, this rectification process is third or higher-order in the incident field.     

Localized surface plasmons-based transmission enhancement of terahertz radiation through metal aperture arrays

The extraordinary transmission spectrum of a copper film pierced by a periodic array of subwavelength rectangular holes is measured by the terahertz time-domain spectroscopy. The transmission coefficient is strongly dependent on the angle between the polarization of terahertz electric field and the latitudinal direction of the periodic apertures. When the angle increases from 0^o to 90^o, a peak becomes stronger and another peak reduces. The transmission is proposed to be the contributions of localized surface plasmons inside the apertures. The finite-difference-time-domain (FDTD) simulation results are in good agreement with experimental observations.     

Photoluminescence from a gold nanotip in an accelerated reference frame

Photoluminescence from a gold nanotip, which is induced by surface plasmons propagating over a curved tapered nanotip surface is considered in a co-moving accelerated reference frame. Similar to the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) effect, nonlinear optical mixing of the surface plasmons with the Unruh quanta is supposed to be enhanced by many orders of magnitude.