半绝缘GaAs光电导开关产生太赫兹波电场屏蔽效应的二维Monte Carlo模拟

利用Ensemble-Monte Carlo模拟方法，对不同实验条件下半绝缘GaAs(SI-GaAs)光电导开关作为偶极辐射天线在辐射太赫兹电磁波(太赫兹波)中体内电场的分布以及空间电荷屏蔽效应对太赫兹波辐射的影响进行了模拟.载流子的时域空间电场分布表明:用高能量激光脉冲触发低压偏置的GaAs开关，空间电荷屏蔽是限制太赫兹波辐射功率的一个重要因素，并且空间电荷屏蔽能够引起太赫兹波呈现双极性.当高能量飞秒激光脉冲以全电极间隙触发大孔径光电导天线时，空间电荷电场屏蔽效应对太赫兹波的影响不大. 关键词： 光电导开关 Ensemble-Monte Carlo模拟 辐射场屏蔽 空间电荷屏蔽     

Generation and characterization of terahertz pulse trains from biased, large-aperture photoconductors

The saturation properties of terahertz emission from biased, large-aperture photoconductors excited by trains of amplified femtosecond optical pulses are presented. A direct comparison is made of the multiple-pulse saturation properties of terahertz emission from semi-insulating GaAs and low-temperature-grown GaAs emitters with different carrier lifetimes. When the carrier lifetime is less than or comparable with the interpulse spacing, a significant enhancement of the narrow-band terahertz output is observed. The enhancement is not observed for emitters with long carrier lifetimes, consistent with the results of a previously derived saturation theory [Opt. Lett. 18, 1340 (1993)].     

Near-field propagation of terahertz pulses from a large-aperture antenna

The near-field propagation behavior of terahertz (THz) pulses generated by a planar large-aperture photoconducting THz transmitter has been characterized. A simulation model based on Huygens-Fresnel diffraction theory has been developed that permits accurate prediction of the spatiotemporal profiles of the THz beam everywhere and gives excellent agreement with experimental measurements. Two key conclusions emerge from this research, namely, the realization that for practical laboratory setups one is always working in the near-field regime and that the proper temporal shape of the THz field at the antenna is one that rises rapidly but decays slowly.     

大孔径光电导天线产生高功率窄带宽THz辐射特性分析

从大孔径光电导天线产生THz辐射的饱和理论出发,考虑了载流子的瞬变迁移率.分析了脉冲序列激发大孔径光电导天线产生高功率窄带宽THz辐射的特性.对比了单个光脉冲和序列光脉冲激发SI-GaAs和LT-GaAs光电导天线的饱和特性.分析表明,采用序列光脉冲激发载流子寿命小于光脉冲间隔的光电导天线时,可以克服大孔径光电导天线的饱和特性,产生高峰值功率的窄带THz辐射.     

Self-Deflection of Dark Screening Spatial Solitons Based on Higher-Order Space Charge Field

The effects of higher-order space charge field on the self-deflection of dark screening spatial solitons in biased photorefractive crystals are numerically investigated under steady-state conditions. The expression for an induced space-charge electric field including higher-order space-charge field terms is obtained. Numerical results indicate that dark solitons possess a self-deflection process during propagation, and the solitons always bend in the direction of the c axis of the crystal. The self-deflection of dark solitons can experience considerable increase especially in the regime of high bias field strengths.     

光电导开关产生太赫兹电磁波双极特性分析

利用光电导体产生太赫兹电磁波(THz波)，THz远场辐射波形与光电导体材料的载流子寿命、偏置电场以及触发光有直接关系.用不同方法对低温GaAs(LT-GaAs)和半绝缘GaAs(SI-GaAs)光电导开关辐射的THz电磁波所呈现的双极特性进行了模拟计算.结果表明，LT-GaAs光电导开关辐射THz波呈现双极性的主要原因是光生载流子寿命小于一个THz波产生时间；而光生载流子寿命大于100ps的SI-GaAs光电导开关，在不同的实验条件（不同偏置电场、不同光脉冲能量）下，产生的THz波呈现双极特性的主要原因分别是载流子发生了谷间散射和空间电荷电场屏蔽. 关键词： 光电导开关 THz电磁波 载流子寿命 空间电荷屏蔽     

基于光导微探针的近场/远场可扫描太赫兹光谱技术

太赫兹技术已经成为涉及公共安全、军事国防和国民经济等国家核心利益的前沿研究领域.以往太赫兹测量技术中通常以远场测量为主,如常用的太赫兹时域光谱仪.近年来太赫兹近场技术得到了迅猛的发展,特别是基于光导天线的探针技术的发展,为可扫描的太赫兹近场测量提供了可能.本文详细报道了我们近期在可扫描太赫兹近场光谱仪研究中的进展.采用光纤耦合的光导微探针实现了方便灵活的太赫兹近场/远场三维扫描,并同时获得振幅和相位信息.该系统将有可能广泛应用于人工微结构、石墨烯、表面等离子激元、波导传输、近场成像、生物样品检测、芯片检测等研究领域.     

Bridging the terahertz near-field and far-field observations of liquid crystal based metamaterial absorbers

Metamaterial-based absorbers play a significant role in applications ranging from energy harvesting and thermal emitters to sensors and imaging devices.The middle dielectric layer of conventional metamaterial absorbers has always been solid.Researchers could not detect the near field distribution in this layer or utilize it effectively.Here,we use anisotropic liquid crystal as the dielectric layer to realize electrically fast tunable terahertz metamaterial absorbers.We demonstrate strong,position-dependent terahertz near-field enhancement with sub-wavelength resolution inside the metamaterial absorber.We measure the terahertz far-field absorption as the driving voltage increases.By combining experimental results with liquid crystal simulations,we verify the near-field distribution in the middle layer indirectly and bridge the nearfield and far-field observations.Our work opens new opportunities for creating high-performance,fast,tunable,terahertz metamaterial devices that can be applied in biological imaging and sensing.     

Mapping an on-chip terahertz antenna by a scanning near-field probe and a fixed field-effect transistor

In the terahertz(THz) regime,the active region for a solid-state detector usually needs to be implemented accurately in the near-field region of an on-chip antenna.Mapping of the near-field strength could allow for rapid verification and optimization of new antenna/detector designs.Here,we report a proof-of-concept experiment in which the field mapping is realized by a scanning metallic probe and a fixed AlGaN/GaN field-effect transistor.Experiment results agree well with the electromagnetic-wave simulations.The results also suggest a field-effect THz detector combined with a probe tip could serve as a high sensitivity THz near-field sensor.     

Steady-State Spatial Solitons in Low-Amplitude Regime in Biased Photorefractive-Photovoltaic Crystals

A theory of the space-charge field is improved in biased photorefractive-phorovoltaic crystals. Steady-state spatial solitons are obtained in the low-amplitude regime in biased photorefractive-photovoltaic crystals. When photovoltaic effect is neglected, these solitons are screening solitons, and their space-charge field is the space-charge field of screening solitons. When the external field is absent, these solitons are photovoltaic solitons for the closed or the open circuit and we also predict that gray solitons exist in photorefractive-photovoltaic crystals, and their space-charge field is the space-charge field of photovoltaic solitons.     

Study of the surface and far fields of terahertz radiation generated by large-aperture photoconductive antennas

We have studied analytically the temporal characteristics of terahertz radiation emitted from a biased largeaperture photoconductive antenna triggered by an ultrashort optical pulse. We have included the effects of the finite lifetime and transient mobility dynamics of photogenerated carriers in the analysis. Succinct explicit expressions are obtained for the emitted radiation in the surface field and in the far field. The dependence of the waveforms of the radiated field on the fluence and duration of triggering optical pulse, carrier relaxation time and carrier lifetime are discussed in detail using the obtained expressions.     

基于Rydberg原子天线的太赫兹测量

Rydberg原子在微波和太赫兹频段具有极大的电偶极矩,利用量子干涉效应可实现对该频段电磁波场强的高灵敏探测,理论上灵敏度可达到远高于现有探测技术的水平.基于Rydberg原子量子效应的电磁场探测及精密测量技术在太赫兹的场强和功率计量、太赫兹通信和太赫兹成像等方面有着巨大的应用前景.本文回顾了基于Rydberg原子量子干涉效应实现电磁波电场自校准和可溯源测量的基本理论和实验技术,详细介绍了基于Rydberg原子的高灵敏太赫兹场强测量、太赫兹近场高速成像和太赫兹数字通信的基本原理和技术方案.最后简单介绍了本研究团队正在开展的基于Rydberg原子的太赫兹探测工作.     

有限厚大孔径光电导天线产生的太赫兹辐射远场时域特性分析

采用电流起伏模型,分析了有限厚大孔径光电导天线产生太赫兹脉冲的远场时域特性.模型在包含有限载流子寿命、瞬变载流子迁移率等影响因素的基础上,考虑了激发光脉冲在光电导材料中的时间延迟和吸收衰减,使模型更加趋近于反映真实的物理过程.根据模型分析了光通量、有限载流子寿命和瞬变载流子迁移率,以及光电导材料厚度变化对THz远场时域波形的影响, 并对比分析了考虑光电导材料厚度与不考虑厚度时太赫兹脉冲的时域波形.     

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.     

Interaction of terahertz electromagnetic radiation with a probe-object system in a terahertz apertureless near-field microscope

The mechanism of the interaction of coherent terahertz radiation with a probe-nanoobject system has been experimentally investigated in a terahertz apertureless near-field microscope. It has been found that the type of the material of a sample under the probe, as well as the geometry of the probe, determines the form of the dependence of the differential signal of the terahertz field on the distance between the probe and sample. The amplitude of the modulation of the probe height significantly affects the spectral composition of the differential terahertz signal, which is directly related to the amplitude and phase of a terahertz wave scattered by the probe-nanoobject system.     

基于IrMn/Fe/Pt交换偏置结构的无场自旋太赫兹源

与目前商用的太赫兹源相比,自旋太赫兹源具有超宽频谱、固态稳定以及成本低廉等优点,这使其成为下一代太赫兹源的主要研究焦点.但使用自旋太赫兹源时,通常需要外加磁场使铁磁层的磁化强度饱和,才能产生太赫兹波,这制约了其应用前景.基于此,本文制备了一种基于Ir Mn/Fe/Pt交换偏置结构的自旋太赫兹波发生器,通过Ir Mn/Fe中的交换偏置场和Fe/Pt中的超快自旋流注入与逆自旋霍尔效应相结合,在无外加磁场下产生了强度可观的太赫兹波.在Ir Mn和Fe的界面中插入超薄的Cu,可以使Fe在厚度很薄时零场下实现饱和磁化,并且其正向饱和场最高可达–10 m T,从而进一步提升无场下的太赫兹发射效率.零场下出射的太赫兹波的动态范围超过60 d B,达到可实用化的水平.通过旋转样品,发现产生的太赫兹波的偏振方向也会随之旋转,并且始终沿着面内垂直于交换偏置场的方向.此外,在此交换偏置结构的基础上,引入了一层自由的铁磁金属层Fe,设计了一种以Ir Mn/Fe/Pt/Fe为核心结构的自旋阀太赫兹源,发现产生的太赫兹强度在两层铁磁层反平行排列时比平行排列以及不引入自由铁磁金属层时均大约提升了40%.结果表明,基...     

Recent advances in terahertz imaging

We review recent progress in the field of terahertz “T-ray” imaging. This relatively new imaging technique, based on terahertz time-domain spectroscopy, has the potential to be the first portable far-infrared imaging spectrometer. We give several examples which illustrate the possible applications of this technology, using both the amplitude and phase information contained in the THz waveforms. We describe the latest results in tomographic imaging, in which waveforms reflected from an object can be used to form a three-dimensional representation. Advanced signal processing tools are exploited for the purposes of extracting tomographic results, including spectroscopic information about each reflecting layer of a sample. We also describe the application of optical near-field techniques to the THz imaging system. Substantial improvements in the spatial resolution are demonstrated. Received: 29 January 1999 / Published online: 7 April 1999     

Spot-size reduction in terahertz apertureless near-field imaging

We show measurements and calculations of the terahertz (THz) near field of a metal tip with a specially formed, semicircular apex that allows us to identify the separate contributions of the tip apex and shaft to the measured signal. We find that when the tip-crystal distance is not modulated the measured near-field signal is overwhelmed by contributions from the tip shaft, resulting in a relatively large THz spot size. When the tip-crystal distance is modulated, with subsequent lock-in detection at the modulation frequency, only the near-field distribution of the semicircular apex is observed, resulting in a much smaller THz spot size and thus improved spatial resolution.     

Features of the scattering of focused terahertz radiation from the probe of a terahertz near-field microscope

The scattering of pulsed terahertz radiation from metallic probes in the form of thin cylinders and cones with a small opening angle, which are used in apertureless terahertz near-field microscopes, has been investigated. The extrema of the waveform of pulsed terahertz radiation scattered from a free probe are linearly shifted with a change in the vertical position of the probe, and the spectral distribution is characterized by an inversely proportional frequency dependence. In the presence of a reflecting surface under the probe, when new excitation and detection directions appear, the spectrum of scattered terahertz radiation does not differ from the spectrum of the incident radiation. The experimental data are in mutual agreement with the theoretical results obtained within the model of the generation of diffraction edge waves at the interface of inhomogeneous excitation between the excitation region and shadow region.     

Terahertz radiation induced by the Wannier-Stark localization of electrons in a natural silicon carbide superlattice

Intense terahertz electroluminescence from SiC structures with a miniband electron spectrum caused by the natural superlattice has been observed. The shape of the terahertz radiation line, the linear dependence of the position of its maximum on the bias voltage, the typical value of the field required to induce the radiation, and the prevailing polarization of the radiation along the superlattice axis indicate that the observed radiation results from to the excitation of stationary Bloch oscillations of electrons in the natural silicon carbide superlattice.