Terahertz-radiation-enhanced broadband terahertz generation from large aperture photoconductive antenna

A technique of enhancing and broadening terahertz (THz) wave radiation from large aperture photoconductive (PC) antenna is presented in this paper. In this technique, the PC antenna is excited by both the optical and previously generated THz pulses by a laser-induced air plasma created in front of PC antenna and an enhanced and broadened THz wave signal is obtained. The theoretical and experimental investigation shows that the superposition is the main mechanism for this enhancement. The technique shown in this paper can be very useful for THz imaging and spectroscopy.     

Terahertz (THz) Frequency Sources and Antennas - A Brief Review

In this paper we review THz radiation properties, generation methods, and antenna configurations. This paper suggests some new class of antennas that can be used at THz frequency, like optical antennas or Carbon nanotube antennas. THz technology has become attractive due to the low energy content and nonionizing nature of the signal. This property makes them suitable for imaging and sensing applications. But at the same time detection and generation of THz signals has been technologically challenging. This paper presents a comparative study of the generation techniques for THz frequency signals giving emphasis to the some new techniques like Quantum Cascade lasers which has created significant research interest. The main aim for this study is to find out the materials suitable for fabricating THz devices and antennas, a suitable method for generation of high power at THz frequency and an antenna that will make THz communication possible.     

Analytical framework of small-gap photoconductive dipole antenna using equivalent circuit model

A compact planar antenna sources with on-chip fabrication and high directivity in order to achieve large depth-of-field for better image resolution is the prospective demand for THz imaging application. Therefore, the small-gap photoconductive dipole antennas have been explored to fulfil such applications demand. However, there are certain modalities for improving the photoconductive dipole antenna performance which need to identify to accomplish high THz average radiated power and improved total efficiency. The unit-cell small-gap photoconductive dipole antenna radiation power enhancement methods need to optimize the design parameters with photoconductive material selection from theoretical simulation. Further, the potential improvement of coupling efficiency of THz wave with air as well as femto-second laser incident efficiency is also important parameters to enhance the radiation power of small-gap photoconductive dipole antenna. In this paper, we have presented an analytical procedure employing explicit mathematical expression leading to the physical behaviour of small-gap photoconductive dipole antenna. The effects of biased lines on the antenna performance parameters are discussed with the help of proposed equivalent circuit model. We have explored the effect of gap-size on the THz radiated power and on total radiation efficiency from the proposed photoconductive dipole antennas.     

Analysis of graphene based optically transparent patch antenna for terahertz communications

With and without multi walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) loaded graphene based optically transparent patch antennas are designed to resonate at 6 THz. Their radiation characteristics are analyzed in 5.66–6.43 THz band. The optically transparent graphene is deployed as the patch and ground plane of the antennas, which are separated by a 2.5 μm thick flexible polyimide substrate. By shorting the microstrip line and ground plane of the antenna with a MWCNT via, the return loss of the antenna is improved. The peak gain of 3.3dB at 6.2 THz and a gain greater than 3dB in 5.66–6.43 THz band is obtained for antenna loaded without MWCNT. Both the antennas achieved a −10dB impedance bandwidth of 12.83%. Gain, directivity and radiation efficiency of the proposed antennas are compared with conventional transparent patch antennas and graphene based non-transparent antennas. The antenna structures are simulated by using finite element method based electromagnetic simulator-Ansys HFSS.     

Dependence of terahertz radiation on gap sizes of biased multi-energy arsenic-ion-implanted and semi-insulating GaAs antennas

We investigate the characteristics of terahertz radiation pulses using biased multi-energy arsenic-ion-implanted and semi-insulating GaAs photoconductive antennas with different gap sizes in terahertz time-domain spectroscopy. At a specific fluence excitation, with increasing antenna gap size, the absolute values of the (peak) normalized terahertz waveform minimum (valley), as well as the bandwidth, reveal an increasing trend for multi-energy arsenic-ion-implanted GaAs antennas and a decreasing trend for semi-insulating GaAs antennas. We find that the largest reachable bias fields applied to arsenic-ion-implanted GaAs antennas are higher than those applied to semi-insulating GaAs antennas. On the basis of pump fluence dependences of peak terahertz amplitude, we deduce that multi-energy arsenic-ion-implanted GaAs antennas have the ability to acquire higher THz power at even higher pump fluence in comparison with semi-insulating GaAs antennas.     

Design considerations for rectangular microstrip patch antenna on electromagnetic crystal substrate at terahertz frequency

The effects of 2-D electromagnetic crystal substrate on the performance of a rectangular microstrip patch antennas at THz frequencies is simulated. Electromagnetic crystal substrate is used to obtain extremely broad-bandwidth with multi-frequency band operation of the proposed microstrip antennas. Multi-frequency band microstrip patch antennas are used in modern communication systems in order to enhance their capacity through frequency reuse. The simulated 10 dB impedance bandwidth of the rectangular patch microstrip antenna is 34.3% at THz frequency (0.6–0.95 THz). The radiation efficiency, gain and directivity of the proposed antenna are presented at different THz frequencies. The simulation has been performed using CST Microwave Studio, which is a commercially available electromagnetic simulator based on finite integral technique.     

GaAs光电导天线辐射太赫兹波功率的计算

在Larmor公式的基础上建立了适合计算光电导天线辐射太赫兹波功率的数学模型,利用此数学模型通过蒙特卡罗方法分别计算了不同实验条件下GaAs光电导天线辐射太赫兹电磁波功率.计算结果表明,增加光电导天线的偏置电场或触发光能量,都能够提高天线辐射太赫兹波功率,大孔径光电导天线能够承载更多的光生载流子,因而可以产生比小孔径光电导天线功率更高的太赫兹波. 关键词： 光电导天线 Larmor公式 太赫兹波功率     

带直角反射器的太赫兹等离子体-金属混合天线

为了满足可工作于太赫兹频段以及较好的方向性和高增益的需求,在等离子体天线的基础上提出了新型等离子体-金属混合八木天线,在其中将反射振子替换为夹直角反射板。根据等离子体天线及八木天线设计理论,设计了该天线的结构并初步确定了其结构参数。通过电磁仿真研究了不同天线-顶点间距情况下天线的回波损耗、增益、电压驻波比和辐射方向图,最终实现了结构参数优化。与不带反射板的天线的对比结果表明,该结构具有更高的增益与更优的前后比。     

平面天线在场效应晶体管太赫兹探测器中的应用

为了提高场效应晶体管太赫兹探测器的响应度并降低噪声等效功率,需要对探测器集成平面天线的结构进行合理设计与优化,本文对集成平面天线结构的场效应晶体管太赫兹探测器的研究进行了深入调研。首先,对场效应晶体管太赫兹探测器的工作原理进行了分析,介绍了集成平面天线如何解决耦合太赫兹波效率低的问题。然后,介绍了一些常用的平面天线结构,包括偶极子天线、贴片天线、缝隙天线、grating-gate和其他类型的结构,比较了各种天线的性能以及引入后对太赫兹探测器响应度的影响。通过对比不同天线结构的探测器响应度和噪声等效功率等参数指标,发现:采用平面天线结构之后,场效应晶体管太赫兹探测器的响应度有了大幅度的提升,各种类型的天线对探测器响应度都有不同程度的提升。本文着重介绍了几种集成于场效应晶体管的平面天线结构,包括各种天线的性能和研究进展,最后分析了场效应晶体管太赫兹探测器存在的问题和发展趋势。     

Investigation of a nanostrip patch antenna in optical frequencies

This is the first report and investigation of a patch antenna in optical frequency range. Variety of plasmonic nanoantenna reported so far is good at enhancing the local field intensity of light by orders of magnitude. However, their far-field radiation efficiency is very poor. The proposed patch antenna emits a directional beam with high efficacy in addition to enhancing the intensity of near field. The nano-patch antenna (NPA) consists of a square patch of gold film of dimension 480 nm², placed on a substrate of dielectric constant \( \varepsilon_{\text{r}} \)  = 3.9 and thickness 150 nm with a ground plane of gold film of dimension 1,080 nm². The NPA resonates at 210 THz and has gain nearly 2 dB and radiation efficiency 45.18 %. The NPA might be useful in variety of applications such as optical communication, nano-photonics, biosensing, and spectroscopy.     

Integrated nanostrip dipole antennas for coherent 30 THz infrared radiation

We report on the experimental study of infrared nanostrip dipole antennas which are connected to thin-film nanometer Ni-NiO-Ni diodes. The integrated Ni-NiO-Ni diodes are used to detect 30 THz (10 µm) CO₂-laser radiation.The diodes are deposited on 385 µm silicon substrates which are covered with a layer of 1.6 µm SiO₂ on both sides. We have found that in low-power applications 1.6 µm of SiO₂ yields excellent quarter-wave matching layers for wavelengths centered at ₀ = 10.8 µm. By this method 79% of the incident CO₂-laser radiation is transmitted into the Si substrate compared to 48% without SiO₂ layer. The use of SiO₂ quarter-wave matching layers considerably improves the efficiency of infrared nanostrip dipole antennas. This has been confirmed by the study of the laser-induced response of the Ni-NiO-Ni diode detectors as a function of the lengthL of the dipole antenna. Thus, we have observed that the laser-induced response strongly increases for shorter antennas and exhibits a distinct maximum atL=2.8 ± 0.3 µm. For the first time, we have investigated the 30 THz radiation patterns of nanostrip dipole antennas of different lengths. On this occasion, we have observed that the radiation pattern changes when the lengthL of the dipole antenna is varied. This observation indicates that antenna currents propagate on the nanostrip dipole antenna.     

THz固定无线链路在大气中的特性

基于宽带太赫兹（THz）波的短距离宽带高数据率无线通讯是可行的。利用THz波大气传输衰减模型和经验的水汽连续体吸收, 结合HITRAN数据库, 发展了在THz频段电磁通信的一个新的传输模型, 形成了对宽频THz波在地表真实大气中水平传输衰减、路径损耗和信道容量的数值模拟能力;提出了100~900 GHz频段的五个可行的通信信道。相比低于100 GHz的无线通信频带, 虽然这五个信道具有的更大的自由传输衰减损耗,以及大气分子和水滴吸收衰减降低了通信数据率, 但通过增加发射和接收天线增益, 仍然可以在短距离实现THz低频带尤其是100~500 GHz的高数据率无线通讯。     

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.     

Ray tracing method with Fresnel’s transmission to calculate polarized radiation power distribution focused by a terahertz Silicon lens antenna

We study a method for simulating a power-flow density distribution of terahertz-wave focused by a hemispherical Silicon lens antenna. A regular ray-tracing method is not enough to evaluate a correct radiation power-flow because it does not take into account transmittances dependent on angles of incidence at different positions on the spherical boundary of the Si-lens. In this study, we propose a ray-tracing method including Fresnel’s transmission coefficients on the surface of a Si-lens for incoming polarized rays. The power-flow-density distribution calculated by the proposed method has a good agreement except for interference and diffraction with the result obtained by an electromagnetic wave simulator. Our method is so simple and reliable that it is useful for designing and evaluating THz optical systems using dielectric lens antennas.     

光电导天线辐射阻抗特性模拟分析(英文)

针对连续太赫兹光电导天线辐射功率较低的缺点,利用有限积分方法对三种常用的光电导天线,包括偶极天线、蝶形天线和螺旋天线,进行数值模拟并分析比较其辐射阻抗特性.仿真结果表明,偶极天线的辐射阻抗与偶极长度、宽度、电极间隙以及传输线宽度有关,且在其谐振频率存在峰值阻抗,适用于特定频率的太赫兹波辐射.蝶形天线和螺旋天线在所研究的太赫兹波段具有近似稳定的辐射阻抗,广泛应用于宽带领域.对带有交叉电极的电极间隙进行计算,结果表明由交叉电极引入的附加电容降低了天线的高频阻抗.     

Terahertz band: Next frontier for wireless communications

This paper provides an in-depth view of Terahertz Band (0.1–10 THz) communication, which is envisioned as a key technology to satisfy the increasing demand for higher speed wireless communication. THz Band communication will alleviate the spectrum scarcity and capacity limitations of current wireless systems, and enable new applications both in classical networking domains as well as in novel nanoscale communication paradigms. In this paper, the device design and development challenges for THz Band are surveyed first. The limitations and possible solutions for high-speed transceiver architectures are highlighted. The challenges for the development of new ultra-broadband antennas and very large antenna arrays are explained. When the devices are finally developed, then they need to communicate in the THz band. There exist many novel communication challenges such as propagation modeling, capacity analysis, modulation schemes, and other physical and link layer solutions, in the THz band which can be seen as a new frontier in the communication research. These challenges are treated in depth in this paper explaining the existing plethora of work and what still needs to be tackled.     

典型大气窗口太赫兹波传输特性和信道分析

在已有大气传输模型的基础上,发展了新的太赫兹波大气传输衰减与色散模型,对宽频太赫兹波在真实大气中传输的衰减和色散特性进行了数值模拟研究.改进太赫兹时域光谱技术,对0.3—2.0 THz频段太赫兹波的大气传输特性进行了透射光谱测量,并得到了一组连续吸收参数.比对发现实验窗口区强度和吸收峰的位置都与计算结果符合得很好.据此选取了三个可行的信道:340,410和667 GHz窗口区,利用线性色散理论和无线通信原理分别从物理上精确地计算了这些信道的群速色散参数和信道容量,并分析了影响最大传输数据率的因素-天线增益.研究结果表明:太赫兹波大气传输1 km时,这三个信道群速色散很小,信号不易被展宽;最大传输速率达十几Gbps,高于单模光纤,但需要更高的天线增益.     

太赫兹波探测光子晶体涂层覆盖目标的可行性

覆盖于高温目标表面的光子晶体红外涂层可实现对目标红外辐射的抑制,而太赫兹波所具有的强穿透特性使其对该类目标的探测成为可能。以相关文献中设计的光子晶体涂层为例,采用特征矩阵理论对0.3~3 THz频率范围内的太赫兹波在该类涂层中的传输特性进行理论计算和分析,重点研究了不同入射角度的太赫兹波在该类涂层中的传输特性。研究发现,上述太赫兹波段处于光子晶体的带隙之外,0.3~0.5 THz频率范围内的太赫兹波对该类红外涂层具有较强的穿透特性,其光谱透过率大于90%;而在2.4~3 THz范围内,其在涂层上具有较强的反射,且整个波段内的吸收率小于0.2%。当入射角小于60°时,其对太赫兹波的传输特性影响较小;进一步增大入射角,其透过率逐渐降低,而反射率逐渐增大。研究结果证明了利用太赫兹波进行涂层覆盖目标探测的可行性,有望利用太赫兹雷达探测弥补红外探测系统的不足。     

Enhancement of terahertz photoconductive antenna operation by optical nanoantennas

Photoconductive antennas are promising sources of terahertz radiation that is widely used for spectroscopy, characterization, and imaging of biological objects, deep space studies, scanning of surfaces, and detection of potentially hazardous substances. These antennas are compact and allow for generation of both ultrabroadband pulses and tunable continuous wave terahertz signals at room temperatures, with no need for high‐power optical sources. However, such antennas have relatively low energy conversion efficiency of femtosecond laser pulses or two close pump wavelengths (photomixers) into the pulsed and continuous terahertz radiation, correspondingly. Recently, an approach to solving this problem that involves known methods of nanophotonics applied to terahertz photoconductive antennas and photomixers has been proposed. This approach comprises the use of optical nanoantennas for enhancing the absorption of pump laser radiation in the antenna gap, reducing the lifetime of photoexcited carriers, and improving the antenna thermal efficiency. This Review is intended to systematize the main results obtained by researchers in this promising field of hybrid optical‐to‐terahertz photoconductive antennas and photomixers. We summarize the main results on hybrid THz antennas, compare the approaches to their implementation, and offer further perspectives of their development including an application of all‐dielectric nanoantennas instead of plasmonic ones.

     

Terahertz-dependent PM2.5 monitoring and grading in the atmosphere

Rapid industrialization and economic development have led to serious pollution in the form of fine particulate matter(PM2.5,particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 μm). In China, PM2.5 has been one of the most debated topics in councils of government and issues of public concern. Terahertz(THz) radiation was employed to measure the PM2.5 in the atmosphere from September 2014 to April 2015 in Beijing. Comparison of the PM2.5 level from the website with THz absorbance revealed a significant phenomenon: THz radiation can be used to monitor PM2.5 in the atmosphere. During Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation(APEC) 2014, "APEC Blue" was also recorded in a THz system. The relationship between absorbance and PM2.5 demonstrates that THz radiation is an effective selection for air pollution grading. Based on the absorbance spectra, the elemental compositions were studied by two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy(2 DCOS) in conjunction with X-ray fluorescence.Several single absorption peaks were revealed and caused by sulphate from coal combustion, vehicle exhaust emissions and secondary reactions. Furthermore, mathematical algorithms, such as the BPANN and SVM, can process the THz absorbance data and greatly improve the precision of the estimation of PM2.5 mass. Our results suggest that THz spectroscopy can not only reveal the component information for pollution source determination, but quantitatively monitor the PM2.5 content for pollution level evaluation. Therefore, the use of THz radiation is a new method for future air pollution monitoring and grading systems.