ZnTe晶体中光学整流产生的THz辐射及其电光探测研究

借助抽运-探测技术研究了ZnTe晶体中光学整流产生的太赫兹(THz)辐射，利用ZnTe晶体的线性电光效应探测THz辐射场分布，观察到了较窄(约为0.2 ps)的THz场分布及相应较宽(响应超过4 THz，半峰宽约为2.4 THz)的THz频谱，并运用琼斯矩阵对实验结果进行了理论拟合. 研究了飞秒激光脉冲波长(750—850 nm)、脉冲宽度(56—225 fs)和晶体旋转与THz辐射产生的关系. 同时改变探测光偏振方向进行偏振调制，并从理论上分析了偏振调制对THz辐射探测的影响. 关键词： THz辐射 光学整流 电光探测 ZnTe     

Ultrafast response of multi-energy proton-bombarded GaAs photoconductors

We have investigated the ultrafast optical and optoelectronic characteristics of multi-energy proton-bombarded GaAs (GaAs:H⁺) material and devices in some detail. Photo-excited carrier lifetimes of GaAs:H⁺ were observed to be as low as 350 ± 50 fs. Photoconductive switches (PCS) fabricated on GaAs:H⁺ were found to exhibit lower dark currents (15 nA at a bias of 10 V) and higher breakdown voltage (> 100 kV/cm) than PCS's fabricated on semi-insulating (S.I.) GaAs. The temporal response of the GaAs:H⁺ PCS was about 2 ps at full-wave half minimum. Optically excited terahertz (THz) radiation from GaAs:H⁺ was reported for the first time to our knowledge. The temporal response and spectral bandwidth of the emitted THz radiation were 0.7 ps and 1.25 THz, respectively. The field strength of the THz signal was about 20 mV/cm. From the THz data, we are able to deduce that the effective carrier mobility of GaAs:H⁺ was less than 1 cm²/V-sec.     

反应离子刻蚀ZnTe的THz辐射和探测研究

运用电光采样技术揭示了反应离子刻蚀（RIE）ZnTe晶体表面THz辐射的光学整流产生机制， 观察到0.25 ps的THz场分布.通过比较刻蚀前后以及不同刻蚀条件下ZnTe样品在不同激发功 率下的THz辐射强度，发现由于反应离子刻蚀破坏了ZnTe样品表面的有序性，晶体的电光系 数随射频功率的增加而减小.借助于计算不同刻蚀条件下ZnTe晶体的频率响应函数，分析了 随射频功率增加ZnTe晶体响应频谱展宽的现象. 关键词： THz辐射 反应离子刻蚀 ZnTe     

Nonlinear Bragg structures based on ZnS/ZnSe superlattices

Nonlinear optical response of periodic ZnSe/ZnS heterostructures is reported using interband excitation of a ZnSe sublattice by nano-, pico- and femtosecond laser pulses. A considerable shift of the reflection spectrum and large relative reflection changes were observed in a wide spectral range corresponding to the transparency region of ZnSe far from the intrinsic absorption onset. Evaluated refraction-index change is about −0.05 with the relaxation time being about 3 ps. In the case of femtosecond excitation, a wide-band nonlinear response is observed for both one-photon near-UV and two-photon near-IR excitation. The nonlinear refraction is supposed to be controlled by population-induced absorption changes in ZnSe single crystals and relevant refraction-index modification via Kramers–Kronig relations. The nonlinearity relaxation time is supposed to trace a transition from a non-equilibrium to a quasi-equilibrium distribution of electrons and holes within ZnSe conduction and valence bands, respectively, rather than the electron–hole recombination time. The nonlinearity mechanism does not reduce to just population-dependent absorption saturation, but essentially results from the specific distribution function in the first instance after excitation.     

Femtosecond dynamics of geminate recombination of radicals upon photodissociation of aromatic disulfides

The dynamics of the geminate recombination of thiyl radicals formed upon photodissociation of aromatic disulfides and the effect of the intramolecular relaxation on this recombination are studied using pico-and femtosecond kinetic spectroscopy. It is shown that, in terms of a phenomenological model, the geminate recombination of phenylthiyl radicals in neutral solvents can be satisfactorily described by a biexponential dependence. The model suggests the occurrence of primary geminate recombination in a solvent cage formed around an original molecule and secondary recombination controlled by the diffusional motion of the radicals of a pair. The primary geminate recombination, whose characteristic time (9 ps) is close to the characteristic times of intermolecular vibrational relaxation of complex molecules in solvents at room temperatures, masks the manifestation of thermalization processes in the time kinetics. The direct geminate recombination of aminophenylthiyl radicals with the formation of original molecules virtually does not occur because of the intramolecular charge transfer. In connection with this, the intermolecular vibrational relaxation manifests itself in the kinetics of the induced optical density in the region of the absorption band maximum of radicals as a growing component with a characteristic time of 6 ps.     

填充ENZ材料的太赫兹高双折射及近零平坦色散微结构光纤北大核心CSCD

为了实现太赫兹波的保偏波导传输,设计了一种含有纤芯缺陷孔和椭圆形包层空气孔的高双折射微结构光纤。通过在包层空气孔中选择性地填充太赫兹近零介电常量(epsilon-nearzero,ENZ)材料,引入了几何结构和材料分布的双重不对称性,破坏了2个偏振基模的简并以获得高双折射特性。应用有限元方法研究了光纤的双折射、损耗和色散等传输特性随结构参数的变化规律。在0.5 THz~2 THz的宽频段范围内获得了大于0.01的高双折射。x和y偏振基模的损耗在0.8 THz附近具有最小值,分别为0.903 dB·cm^(-1)和0.851 dB·cm^(-1)。纤芯缺陷孔可以有效调节色散特性,y偏振基模在1 THz~1.8 THz范围内具有(0±0.054)ps·THz^(-1)·cm^(-1)近零平坦色散特性。光纤的传输特性对ENZ材料的折射率变化不敏感。研究结论为研制太赫兹保偏光纤提供了理论参考。     

Ultrafast opto-terahertz photonic crystal modulator

We present an agile optically controlled switch or modulator of terahertz (THz) radiation. The element is based on a one-dimensional photonic crystal with a GaAs wafer inserted in the middle as a defect layer. The THz electric field is enhanced in the photonic structure at the surfaces of the GaAs wafer. Excitation of the front GaAs surface by ultrashort 810 nm laser pulses then leads to an efficient modulation of the THz beam even at low photocarrier concentrations (approximately 10(16) cm(-3)). The response time of the element to pulsed photoexcitation is about 130 ps.     

Size-dependent optical properties and carriers dynamics in CdSe/ZnS quantum dots

Size-dependence of optical properties and energy relaxation in CdSe/ZnS quantum dots （QDs） were investigated by two-colour femtosecond （fs） pump-probe （400/800 nm） and picosecond time-resolved photoluminescence （ps TRPL） experiments. Pump-probe measurement results show that there are two components for the excited carriers relaxation, the fast one with a time constant of several ps arises from the Auger-type recombination, which shows almost particle sizeindependence. The slow relaxation component with a time constant of several decades of ns can be clearly determined with ps TRPL spectroscopy in which the slow relaxation process shows strong particle size-dependence. The decay time constants increase from 21 to 34 ns with the decrease of particle size from 3.2 to 2.1 nm. The room-temperature decay lifetime is due to the thermal mixing of bright and dark excitons, and the size-dependence of slow relaxation process can be explained very well in terms of simple three-level model.     

An algorithm for unified analysis on the thermoluminescence glow curve

An algorithm was developed to integrally handle excitation by radiation, relaxation and luminescence by thermal or optical stimulation in thermoluminescence (TL) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) processes. This algorithm reflects the mutual interaction between traps through a conduction band. Electrons and holes are created by radiation in the beginning, and these electrons move to the trap through the conduction band. These holes move to the recombination center through a valence band. The ratio of the electrons allocated to each trap differs with the recombination probability and these values also relevant to the process of luminescence. Accordingly, the glow curve can be interpreted by taking the rate of electron–hole pairs created by ionizing radiation as a unique initial condition. This method differs from the conventional method of interpreting the measured glow curve with the initial electron concentration allocated to each trap at the end of irradiation. A program using the Visual Studio's C# subsystem was made to realize such a developed algorithm. To verify this algorithm it was applied to LiF:Mg,Cu,Si. The TL glow curve was deconvoluted with a model of five traps, one deep trap and one recombination center (RC).     

High-speed terahertz time-domain spectroscopy based on electronically controlled optical sampling

We demonstrate high-speed terahertz (THz) time-domain spectroscopy based on electronically controlled optical sampling (ECOPS). The ECOPS system utilizes two synchronized Ti:sapphire femtosecond lasers with a 100 MHz repetition frequency. The time delay between the two laser pulses is demonstrated to be rapidly swept at a scan rate of 1 kHz on a time delay window of 77 ps by using an external offset voltage applied to a locking electronics. It is shown that a THz pulse can be exactly measured by ECOPS, as is done by asynchronous optical sampling (ASOPS), and the measurement time is shortened by a factor of 50 by using ECOPS compared with ASOPS in the case of employing 100 MHz repetition-rate lasers.     

激光大气成丝中的非线性光频转换

超快强激光在光学介质（如空气）中传播时由于克尔自聚焦效应和等离体散焦效应动态平 衡会发生一种独特的非线性激光成丝现象。激光成丝过程会诱导一些独特的物理现象,如非线性 光频转换产生超连续光谱、等离子体诱导高压放电、锥形辐射等,在大气传感、天气控制等研究 领域具有重要的应用前景。本文针对飞秒激光大气成丝过程中与传输介质相互作用所诱导的非线 性发光过程,介绍了激光大气成丝所产生的超连续光谱（白光）激光、谐波产生和太赫兹波辐射 三种非线性光频转换现象,并着重探讨了太赫兹波辐射的物理机理、研究现状和应用前景。     

Single-shot measurement of THz pulses

Terahertz(THz) waves have shown a broad prospect in the analysis of some dielectric materials because of their special properties. For the ultrafast irreversible processes, the THz single-shot measurement is a good choice. In this paper,a single-shot system is investigated, where a pump beam is used to generate THz pulses with high electrical field by optical rectification in LiNbO_3, the probe beam with wavefront tilted by a blazed grating is used for single-shot measurement. The time window is up to 90 ps, the signal to noise ratio is 2000 : 1, the spectrum covers from 0.1 THz to about 2.0 THz, and the spectral resolution is 0.011 THz. The single-shot measurement result agrees well with that of a traditional electrical-optic sampling method.     

Experimental study on terahertz radiation

In this letter, we describe a coherent subpicosecond terahertz (THz) spectroscopy system based on nonresonant optical rectification for the generation of THz radiation. We studied the two-photon absorption (TPA) of ZnTe induced by femtosecond laser pulses via THz generation, and its influence on the generation of THz radiation. Experimental results demonstrated that the intensity of pump beam against TPA must be traded off to get an optimum generation of THz radiation. As an example, we measured absorption spectrum of water vapor by time-domain spectroscopy (TDS) in the frequency range from 0.5 to 2.5 THzwith a high overall accuracy.     

Properties of excitons in a wide CdTe-based quantum well with irregular insertions of a fractional monolayer of ZnTe

The irregular short period CdTe/ZnTe superlattice structure is investigated by both stationary and time-resolved optical spectroscopy with and without an external magnetic field as a perturbation. This study is aimed to emphasize the properties of radiative excitonic recombination in a superlattice of this type in comparison with the excitons confined in a single QW structure. The decay time of the excitons is about 400 ps which is deduced from the time-resolved measurements. Theg-factors of electrons and holes are obtained by the spin quantum beat measurements combined with Zeeman measurements. The experimental results show that theg-factors of holes in the irregular short period CdTe/ZnTe superlattice become dramatically different in comparison with the single CdTe/CdMgTe quantum wells.     

Picosecond time resolved reflectivity of direct gap semiconductors

The relaxation of optically excited hot carrier distributions in GaAs and CdSe has been measured by time resolved reflectivity measurements with sub-picosecond optical pulses from a mode-locked cw dye laser. A characteristic transient in the reflectivity has been interpreted by an analysis of the perturbed optical dielectric function. Estimated energy loss rates are 0.4 eV/ps for electrons and holes having mean energies in the range of 1 to 2 eV for GaAs at room temperature.     

Picosecond studies of highly excited CdS

Results on picosecond luminescence and excite-and-probe transmission as well as transient grating measurements for highly excited CdS measured at a bath temperature of 5 K will be presented. The luminescence and optical gain both due to electron-hole plasma and excitonic molecule recombination are observed. The electron-hole plasma decays very fast by bimolecular recombination of electrons and holes in the plasma and diffusion of the carrier toward the low density regions, and transforms into excitons and excitonic molecules within 100–200 ps. The possibility of electron-hole liquid formation is definitely excluded. The exciton and excitonic molecule decay rather slowly and govern the optical properties for times longer than 200 ps.     

Optical control over surface-plasmon-polariton-assisted THz transmission through a slit aperture

We demonstrate optical control over the transmission of terahertz (THz) radiation through a single subwavelength slit in an otherwise opaque silicon wafer. The addition of periodic corrugation on each side of the wafer allows coupling to surface plasmon polaritons, so that light not impinging directly on the slit can contribute to the transmission. A significant enhancement of the THz transmission can be achieved through control of the surface wave propagation length by excitation at optical wavelengths. The observed transmission increase is in distinct contrast to the reduction reported for photoexcitation of arrays of holes in semiconductors.     

Photocarrier transport in 2D macroporous silicon structures

The mechanisms of photocarrier transport through a barrier in the surface space-charge region (SCR) of 2D macroporous silicon structures have been studied at photon energies comparable to that of the silicon indirect band-to-band transition. It was found that the photoconductivity relaxation time was determined by the light modulation of barrier on the macropore surface; as a result, the relaxation itself obeyed the logarithmic law. The temperature dependence of the photoconductivity relaxation time was determined by the thermionic emission mechanism of the current transport in the SCR at temperatures T > 180 K, and by the tunnel current flow at T < 100 K, with temperature-independent tunnelling probability. The photo-emf was found to become saturated or reverse its sign to negative at temperatures below 130 K because of light absorption due to optical transitions via surface electronic states close to the silicon conduction band. In this case, the surface band bending increases due to the growth of a negative charge of the semiconductor surface. The equilibrium electrons in the bulk and photoexcited holes on the macropore surface recombine through the channel of multistage tunnel recombination between the conduction and valence bands.     

Ultrafast control of slow light in THz electromagnetically induced transparency metasurfaces

In this paper,we experimentally demonstrate ultrafast optical control of slow light in the terahertz(THz) range by combining the electromagnetically induced transparency(EIT) metasurfaces with the cut wire made of P~+-implanted silicon with short carrier lifetime.Employing the optical-pump THz-probe spectroscopy,we observed that the device transited from a state with a slow light effect to a state without a slow light effect in an ultrafast time of 5 ps and recovered within 200 ps.A coupled oscillator model is utilized to explain the origin of controllability.The experimental results agree very well with the simulated and theoretical results.These EIT metasurfaces have the potential to be used as an ultrafast THz optical delay device.     

基于振动弛豫理论提高光抽运太赫兹激光器输出功率的研究

以半经典密度矩阵理论和分子振动弛豫理论为基础,研究添加适当比例缓冲气体与适当减小波导芯径对光抽运太赫兹激光器输出光强的影响.计算结果表明,加入适当比例缓冲气体或适当减小波导的芯径均能提高太赫兹激光的输出光强;同时优化两个参数能进一步提高抽运激光能量转化为太赫兹激光能量的效率,延长工作腔中的有效激活区,延缓抽运饱和效应的出现,提高太赫兹激光输出光强.该研究对提高光抽运太赫兹激光器的能量转化效率、提高光抽运太赫兹激光器的输出功率及实现光抽运太赫兹激光器的小型化有重要的指导意义.