Realization of a broadband terahertz wavelength-selective coupling based on five-core fibers

We propose a novel kind of wavelength-selective coupling for the terahertz range based on solid five-core fiber(FCF).The performances of coupling, propagation characteristics, and confinement loss properties are numerically investigated by using a full vector beam propagation method(BPM). Simulation results show that it is possible to realize a broadband wavelength-selective coupling. The coupling length can reach 1.913 cm, and the confinement loss is better than1.965×10-4cm-1. Furthermore, a parameter, the power difference, is defined, and it numerically demonstrates the working performance of the wavelength-selective coupler; that is, when the power difference is better than-15 dB, the frequency located in the range of 0.76 THz–1.00 THz is separated relatively well from the frequency of 0.3 THz. Finally, the effect of the structural parameter on the working performance of the coupler is also investigated. We show that the performance optimization is possible by appropriately tuning the core diameter, and the tunabilities of frequency and bandwidth are possible by appropriately tuning the pitch. The wavelength-selective coupler is of potential application for optical fiber sensing and communication in terahertz wavelength division multiplexer fields.     

High-power terahertz pulse sensor with overmoded structure

Based on the hot electron effect in a semiconductor, an overmoded resistive sensor for 0.3-0.4 THz band is investi-gated. The distribution of electromagnetic field components, voltage standing wave ratio （VSWR）, and the average electric field in the silicon block are obtained by using the three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain （FDTD） method. By adjusting several factors （such as the length, width, height and specific resistance of the silicon block） a novel sensor with optimal structural parameters that can be used as a power measurement device for high power terahertz pulse directly is proposed. The results show that the sensor has a relative sensitivity of about 0.24 kW 1, with a fluctuation of relative sensitivity of no more than ±22%, and the maximum of VSWR is 2.74 for 0.3-0.4 THz band.     

Intraband Dynamics and Terahertz Emission in Biased GaAs/In0.53Ga0.47As Semiconductor Superlattices

Using an excitonic basis, we investigate the intraband polarization, optical absorption spectra, and terahertz emission of semiconductor superlattice with the density matrix theory. The excitonic Bloch oscillation is driven by the dc and ac electric fields. The slow variation in the intraband polarization depends on the ac electric field frequency. The intraband polarization increases when the ac electric field frequency is below the Bloch frequency. When the ac electric field frequency is above the Bloch frequency, the intraband polarization downwards and its intensity decreases. The satellite structures in the optical absorption spectra are presented. Due to excitonic dynamic localization, the emission lines of terahertz shift in different ac electric field and dc electric field.     

Bifurcation phenomena and control for magnetohydrodynamic flows in a smooth expanded channel

This work reports the effects of magnetic field on an electrically conducting fluid with low electrical conductivity flowing in a smooth expanded channel. The governing nonlinear magnetohydrodynamic （MHD） equations in induction- free situations are derived in the framework of MHD approximations and solved numerically using the finite-difference technique. The critical values of Reynolds number （based on upstream mean velocity and channel height） for symmetry breaking bifurcation for a sudden expansion channel （1：4） is about 36, whereas the value in the case of the smooth expansion geometry used in this work is obtained as 298, approximately （non-magnetic case）. The flow of an electrically conducting fluid in the presence of an externally applied constant magnetic field perpendicular to the plane of the flow is reduced significantly depending on the magnetic parameter （M）. It is expansion （1：4） is about 475 for the magnetic parameter M found that the critical value of Reynolds number for smooth = 2. The separating regions developed behind the smooth symmetric expansion are decreased in length for increasing values of the magnetic parameter. The bifurcation diagram is shown for a symmetric smoothly expanding channel. It is noted that the critical values of Reynolds number increase with increasing magnetic field strength.     

The effect of an optical pump on the absorption coefficient of magnesium-doped near-stoichiometric lithium niobate in terahertz range

The absorption coefficient of magnesium-doped near-stoichiometric lithium niobate crystal is measured by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy in a frequency range of 0.2 THz~0.9 THz at room temperature. The absorption coefficient is modulated by external optical pump fields. Experimental results show that the absorption coefficient of near-SLN：Mg crystal is approximately in a range of 22 cm- 1_35 cm- 1 in a frequency range of 0.2 THz-0.9 THz and tunable up to nearly 15%. Further theoretical analysis reveals that the variation of absorption coefficient is related to the number of light-induced carriers, domain reversal process, and OH- absorption in this crystal.     

Loss and gain in Bloch oscillating super-superlattices: THz Stark ladder spectroscopy

Bloch oscillation in electrically biased semiconductor superlattices offer broadband terahertz gain from DC up to the Bloch frequency or Stark splitting. Useful gain up to 2–3 THz can provide a basis for solid-state electronic oscillators operating at 10 times the frequency of existing devices.A major stumbling block is the inherent instability of the electrically biased doped superlattices to the formation of static or dynamic electric field domains. To circumvent this, we have fabricated super-superlattices in which a large superlattice is punctuated with heavily doped regions. The short superlattice sections have subcritical “nL” products.Room temperature, terahertz photon-assisted transport in short InGaAs/InAlAs superlattice cells allows us to determine the Stark ladder splitting as the superlattice is electrically biased and confirms the absence of electric field domains in short structures.Absorption of radiation from 1.5 to 2.5 THz by electrically biased InAs/AlSb super-superlattices exhibit a crossover from loss to gain as the Stark ladder is opened. Measurements are carried out at room temperature in a novel planar terahertz waveguide defined by photonic band gap sidewalls and loaded with an array of electrically biased super-superlattices. The frequency-dependent crossover voltage indicates 80% participation of the super-superlattice.     

Medical application of diffraction enhanced imaging in mouse liver blood vessels

Neovascularization is correlative with many processes of diseases, especially for tumor growth, invasion, and metastasis. What is more, these tumor microvessels are totally different from normal vessels in morphology. Therefore, observation of the morphologic distribution of microvessels is one of the key points for many researchers in the field. Using diffraction enhanced imaging （DEI）, we observed the mirocvessles with diameter of about 40 μm in mouse liver. Moreover, the refraction image obtained from DEI shows higher image contrast and exhibits potential use for medical applications.     

TiO_2/Ag composite nanowires for a recyclable surface enhanced Raman scattering substrate

Multifunctional TiO2/Ag composite nanowires are fabricated with a hydrothermal method by precipitating Ag nanoparticles （NPs） on the surfaces of TiO2 nanowires. This hierarchical one-dimensional （1D） nanostructure can be used as a surface enhanced Raman scattering （SERS） substrate with high sensitivity, for detecting the rhodamine 6G （R6G） in a wide range of low concentrations （from 1 × 10 6 M to 1 × 10-12 M）. In addition, the substrate can be self-cleaned under the irradiation of ultraviolet （UV） light due to the superior photocatalytic capacity of the TiO2/Ag composite nanostructure, making the recycled use of SERS substrates closer to reality. With both the evident SERS performance and high efficiency of photocatalytic capacity, such TiOz/Ag composite nanowires demonstrate considerable potential in the chemical sensing of organic pollutants.     

Preliminary attempt on maximum likelihood tomosynthesis reconstruction of DEI data

Tomosynthesis is a three-dimension reconstruction method that can remove the effect of superim- position with limited angle projections. It is especially promising in mammography where radiation dose is concerned. In this paper, we propose a maximum likelihood tomosynthesis reconstruction algorithm （ML-TS） on the apparent absorption data of diffraction enhanced imaging （DEI）. The motivation of this contribution is to develop a tomosynthesis algorithm in low-dose or noisy circumstances and make DEI get closer to clinic application. The theoretical statistical models of DEI data in physics are analyzed and the proposed algorithm is validated with the experimental data at the Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility （BSRF）. The results of ML-TS have better contrast compared with the well known ＇shift-and-add＇ algorithm and FBP algorithm.     

Li–N dual-doped ZnO thin films prepared by an ion beam enhanced deposition method

Li–N dual-doped ZnO films [ZnO:(Li,N)] with Li doping concentrations of 3 at.%–5 at.% were grown on a glass substrate using an ion beam enhanced deposition(IBED) method. An optimal p-type ZnO:(Li,N) film with the resistivity of 11.4 Ω·cm was obtained by doping 4 at.% of Li and 5 sccm flow ratio of N2. The ZnO:(Li,N) films exhibited a wurtzite structure and good transmittance in the visible region. The p-type conductive mechanism of ZnO:(Li,N) films are attributed to the Li substitute Zn site(LiZn) acceptor. N doping in ZnO can forms the Lii–NOcomplex, which depresses the compensation of Li occupy interstitial site(Lii) donors for LiZnacceptor and helps to achieve p-type ZnO:(Li,N) films. Room temperature photoluminescence measurements indicate that the UV peak(381 nm) is due to the shallow acceptors LiZnin the p-type ZnO:(Li,N) films. The band gap of the ZnO:(Li,N) films has a red-shift after p-type doping.     

Polynomial curve fitting method for refraction-angle extraction in diffraction enhanced imaging

X-ray diffraction sorbing low-Z sample. How enhanced imaging （DEI） is applied to extract phase information from to inspect internal structures of weakly abraw images measured in different positions of rocking curve is the key problem of DEI. In this paper, we present an effective extraction method called polynomial curve fitting method, in order to extract accurate information angular in a fast speed. It is compared with the existing methods such as multiple-images statistical method and Gaussian curve fitting method. The experiments results on a plastic cylinder and a black ant at the Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility prove that the polynomial curve fitting method can obtain most approximate refraction-angle values and its computation speed is 10 times faster than the Gaussian curve fitting method.     

An ART iterative reconstruction algorithm for computed tomography of diffraction enhanced imaging

X-ray diffraction enhanced imaging （DEI） has extremely high sensitivity for weakly absorbing low- Z samples in medical and biological fields. In this paper, we propose an Algebra Reconstruction Technique （ART） iterative reconstruction algorithm for computed tomography of diffraction enhanced imaging （DEI-CT）. An Ordered Subsets （OS） technique is used to accelerate the ART reconstruction. Few-view reconstruction is also studied, and a partial differential equation （PDE） type filter which has the ability of edge-preserving and denoising is used to improve the image quality and eliminate the artifacts. The proposed algorithm is validated with both the numerical simulations and the experiment at the Beijing synchrotron radiation facility （BSRF）.     

Tailoring terahertz near-field enhancement via two-dimensional plasmons

We suggest a novel possibility for electrically tunable terahertz near-field enhancement in flatland electronic materials supporting two-dimensional plasmons, including recently discovered graphene. We employ electric-field effect modulation of electron density in such materials and induce a periodic plasmonic lattice with a defect cavity. We demonstrate that the plasmons resonantly excited in such a periodic plasmonic lattice by an incident terahertz radiation can strongly pump the cavity plasmon modes leading to a deep subwavelength concentration of terahertz energy, beyond λ/1000, with giant electric-field enhancement factors up to 10(4), which is 2 orders of magnitude higher than achieved previously in metal-based terahertz field concentrators.     

Power dependence of terahertz carrier frequency in a plasma-based two-color generation process

We conduct a frequency spectrum experiment to investigate terahertz（THz） emissions from laser-induced air plasma under different laser incident powers. The frequency spectra are measured using both air-biased-coherent detection and a Michelson interferometer. The red-shift of the THz pulse carrier frequency is observed as a response to increased pump power. These phenomena are related to plasma collisions and can be explained by the plasma collision model. Based on these findings, it is apparent that the tuning of the THz carrier frequency can be achieved through regulation of the pump beam.     

Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy of a simulated pore structure to probe particle size and porosity of porous rock

The particle sizes and porosities of simulated pore structures are probed by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy.A double-peak time-domain spectrum phenomenon is observed when the terahertz（THz） pulses illuminated a pore and a particle. The amplitudes of the two peaks depend strongly and monotonically on the particle size and porosity. A model is used to study the phenomenon, and the computational results agreed with the experimental measurements. These measurements indicate the terahertz spectroscopic behaviors of pores and particles, suggesting that terahertz spectroscopy can be used as a noncontact probe of porosity.     

Voltage-controlled intracavity terahertz generator for self-starting Ti:sapphire lasers

A new, efficient, intracavity scheme for terahertz generation in femtosecond mode-locked Ti:sapphire lasers is proposed and demonstrated. The terahertz radiation is generated by a transient photocurrent in a GaAs layer grown on a fast semiconductor saturable absorber mirror. The average terahertz output radiation power is voltage controlled and can be electrically modulated at frequencies up to 100 kHz.     

具有分离门的电抽运多层石墨烯负动态电导率的理论研究

本文提出了具有分离门的电抽运多层石墨烯结构, 建立了电诱导n-i-p结的理论模型, 计算了集居数反转的条件下与带内和带间跃迁相关的动态电导率, 讨论了偏置电压、门电压、石墨烯层数以及动量弛豫时间对动态电导率的影响. 结果表明, 在一定条件下, 动态电导率的实部在太赫兹范围内可以是负的, 即带间辐射大于带内吸收, 论证了电抽运多层石墨烯结构作为产生太赫兹相干光源的激活物质的可行性.     

Ultrafast optical switching of terahertz metamaterials fabricated on ErAs/GaAs nanoisland superlattices

We demonstrate optical switching of electrically resonant terahertz planar metamaterials fabricated on ErAs/GaAs nanoisland superlattice substrates. Photoexcited charge carriers in the superlattice shunt the capacitive regions of the constituent elements, thereby modulating the resonant response of the metamaterials. A switching recovery time of 20 ps results from fast carrier recombination in the ErAs/GaAs superlattice substrates.     

特种工程塑料太赫兹光学参数测量及误差分析

以聚苯硫醚(PPS)、聚醚酰亚胺(PEI)及其玻璃纤维增强材料(PPS-GF30,PEI-GF30)为样品,获得了在太赫兹频段的光谱特性。首先,利用太赫兹时域光谱系统,在透射模式下,测试了四种材料在自由空间的时域信号。然后,根据提取光学参数的物理模型及菲涅尔透射公式计算材料的折射率及消光系数,同时对物理模型和菲涅耳公式解析法仿真,保障了实验测试和算法的合理性与可靠性。最后,依据误差传输理论计算了由主要因素决定的光学参数误差。在样品各自的太赫兹有效频段,实验显示： PPS： n=1.889~1.945(误差0.003~0.012),κ=0.001~0.047、(误差0.000 1~0.002 6),PPS-GF30： n=1.654~1.672(误差0.003~0.004),κ=0.002~0.057(误差0.000 1~0.002 8),PEI： n=1.713~1.733(误差0.002~0.012),κ=0.005~0.035(误差0.000 1~0.003 0),PEI-GF30： n=1.688~1.732(误差0.003~0.004),κ=0.036~0.068(误差0.000 2~0.002 6)。结果表明： 作为太赫兹超材料器件的基底,PPS适合低频,PEI适合高频,玻璃纤维增强的PPS,PEI相比纯样品,不仅力学性能得到改善,并有利于信号探测,而且在有效频段的高频部分,探测灵敏度更强。研究提供了PPS,PEI及其玻璃纤维增强材料在太赫兹频段的基础参数,为太赫兹领域超材料器件的研究提供了重要参考。     

Remarks on interpretations of the Eotvos experiment and misinterpretation of E=mc^2

The Eotvos experiment on the verification of equivalence between inertial mass and gravitational mass of a body is famous for its accuracy. A question is, however, can these experimental results be applied to the case of a physical space in general relativity, where the space coordinates could be arbitrary？ It is pointed out that it can be validly applied because it has been proven that Einstein＇s equivalence principle for a physical space must have a frame of reference with the Euclidean-like structure. Will claimed further that such an overall accuracy can be translated into an accuracy of the equivalence between inertial mass and each type of energy. It is shown that, according to general relativity, such a claim is incorrect. The root of this problem is due to an inadequate understanding of special relativity that produced the famous equation E=mc^2, which must be understood in terms of energy conservation. Concurrently, it is pointed out that this error is a problem in Will＇s book, ‘Theory and Experiment in Gravitational Physics＇.