Generation of coherent terahertz phonons by sharp focusing of a femtosecond laser beam in the bulk of crystalline insulators in a regime of plasma formation

The generation of coherent terahertz phonons in a regime of plasma formation by a femtosecond laser radiation with an intensity of 10¹³ W/cm² in the bulk of crystalline quartz has been detected by the method of probing by a probe pulse of the third harmonic. A smooth increase in the frequency of coherent terahertz phonons from 2.2 to 5.5 THz has been detected, along with its subsequent sharp decrease down to 2.2 THz due to an α-β phase transition in crystalline quartz. The generation of 1-THz coherent phonons has been detected in BaF₂ crystals. A smooth variation of the frequency of coherent phonons from 2 to 2.5 THz has been detected in leucosapphire. The generation of coherent phonons during local laser excitation in CaF₂ and LiF crystals develops at the frequencies of 2.3 and 0.1 THz, respectively.     

A TERAHERTZ PHASE FREQUENCY CHANGER WITH THE CRYSTAL QUARTZ PHASE SECTIONS

A phase frequency changer (PFC) for quasi-optical transmission line with phase sections made of crystal quartz and polarizers executed on the basis of small-period wire gratings has been considered. The PFC is intended for operation in terahertz (THz) frequency region. It has been examined at the frequency f _o= 0.89THz. The influence of the differential phase shift deviation in the sections on the output signal spectrum and the influence of the sections mismatch on the reflection signal spectrum have been considered. In the frequency region ± 10% f _o the levels of the spurious spectral components of output signal are less than −40 dB with regard to the level of the useful signal of the shifted frequency. The levels of all spectral components of the reflection signal are less than −60 dB with regard to the level of the useful component of the PFC output signal.     

Generation of continuously tunable terahertz-wave radiation exploited by stimulated polariton scattering

The characteristics of a coherent tunable terahertz-wave source have been experimentally investigated in detail. By using a difference frequency generation as a result of stimulated Raman scattering by polaritons in MgO:LiNbO₃ crystals, the signal wave was continuously tuned in the range of 1.069–1.075 μm, which corresponded to a terahertz-wave in the wide range from 227 to 104 μm (1.3 to 2.9 THz). The highest output signal pulse energy at the pumping level of 44 mJ/pulse was 1.8 mJ/pulse with 20 mW seeder injection, and the terahertz peak power was 139 mW at the wavelength of 143 μm. This source has the advantages of simple alignment, simplicity of tuning, and compactness that makes the device more attractive.     

Frequency Sources in W-band Radar Front-end with Low Phase Noise

A W-band coherent stepped-frequency pulsed radar front-end is developed. It consists of a millimetre wave transmitting source, a mm-wave local source, a DDS with multi frequency points output and two microwave sources serving as local oscillators. All the sources are coherent with the 120 MHz referenced crystal oscillator. The mm-wave sources are realized by frequency multiplier chain, up-conversion and injection locking. The phase noise of fundamental-wave injection-locked W-band harmonic Gunn oscillator output signal achieves −98 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset and the spurious output is less than −50 dBc. The received intermediate frequency signal is also presented.     

Ultra-fast dynamics of coherent lattice and spin excitations at the Gd(0001) surface

The Gd(0001) surface is investigated by pump–probe experiments using femtosecond laser pulses at 740–860 nm wavelength. Employing optical second-harmonic generation, spin and lattice dynamics are separated through the symmetry of optical field contributions that are even and odd with respect to magnetization reversal. A coherent phonon–magnon mode at a frequency of 3 THz that is excited through the exchange-split surface state is observed in the time domain. A magneto-elastic phonon–magnon interaction based on spin–orbit coupling is weak for Gd and a modulation of the exchange interaction mediated by the lattice vibration is proposed as a microscopic interaction mechanism of this coupled mode. In parallel, electron–electron and electron–phonon interactions and their magnetic counterparts lead to incoherent dynamics of the electron, lattice, and spin subsystems. Variation of the optical wavelength shows that for longer wavelengths up to 860 nm the coherent mode dominates, while for shorter ones (≥740 nm) incoherent contributions prevail. This dependence indicates that selective depopulation of the occupied surface state component drives the coherent excitation. However, temperature-dependent studies show that the oscillation amplitude of even and odd contributions scales with the spin polarization of the surface state, suggesting that the spin dependence of the ion potentials contributes as well. Furthermore, the frequency of the coherent mode presents a blue shift with a delay of 0.17 THz/ps that saturates at the static frequency of the respective bulk phonon. This behavior is a consequence of equilibration of the screened ion potential at the surface subsequent to the intense laser excitation. PACS 78.47.+p; 63.22.+m; 63.20.Ls; 75.30.Ds     

Research on tunable local laser used in ground-to-satellite coherent laser communication

In order to realize homodyne reception and Doppler frequency shift tracking in ground-to-satellite coherent laser communication, a local laser is experimentally demonstrated in this Letter. It is realized based on modulationsideband injection locking, and has a 10 GHz tuning range, a 1 THz/s tuning rate, a 5 k Hz linewidth, and 16 m W of output power. When applied to a Costas loop in a coherent laser communication system, the local laser can achieve ?5 GHz Doppler frequency shift tracking with a 20 MHz/s frequency shift rate, which is sufficient for the ground-to-satellite coherent laser communication.     

Semiderivative real filter for microoptical elements quality control

The article presents a proposal for a new method of automatic quality control of microlenses arrays, which is based on a semiderivative real filter. The use of the semiderivative filter for examining pure-phase objects involves modifying the spatial frequency. The basis of the proposed setup is a 4f correlator setup with coherent light. The phase object examined is placed in the input plane of the correlator. Next, the light passes through a filter located in the frequency plane, which gives an intensity signal. In the output plane a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera registers the light intensity, the range of which informs the shape of the phase object. The proposed method is shift invariant, so it allows for examination of single elements or a set of micro-optical elements simultaneously. Additionally, the same setup allows for measuring the phase of objects whose thickness is either considerably smaller or much bigger than 2π.     

Phase control of maximal atomic coherence

The atomic coherence in a three-level Λ atom is studied, in which each optical transition is driven by a coherent field and the metastable states are coupled to each other via a microwave field. It’s shown that the atomic coherence crucially depends on the relative phase delay between the envelopes of the amplitudes of the three coupling fields. In particular, when the phase delay is adjusted to 0 or π, the maximal atomic coherence arises, while the maximal atomic coherence doesn’t occur once the phase delay is changed to π/2. The maximal atomic coherence is attributed to the trapping of the population in the lower sublevels.     

Nonlinear photoacoustic response of opaque media in gas microphone signal detection

We have theoretically studied the effect of thermal nonlinearity, due to the temperature dependence of the thermophysical and optical parameters for thermally thick opaque media, on the characteristics of the fundamental photoacoustic signal when the signal is detected by a gas microphone. We have shown that the dependence of the amplitude of the nonlinear component of the signal on the intensity of the incident radiation I₀ is expressed by means of the dependence of the temperature rise for the irradiated sample surface Θ₀ on I₀, and the thermal nonlinearity does not affect the phase of the photoacoustic signal. We propose a theory for generation of the second harmonic of the photoacoustic signal. We have established that the phase shift of the photoacoustic signal is equal to 3π/4, while its amplitude depends on the frequency (∼ω^−3/2) and the intensity (∼ I ₀ ² ). __________ Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 73, No. 2, pp. 170–176, March–April, 2006.     

High-resolution GaP Terahertz Spectrometer and Its Application to Detect Defects in Gamma-irradiated Glucose Crystal

We developed high-resolution GaP THz signal generator using Cr:Forsterite lasers with gratings as both a pump and a signal beam for difference-frequency generation. A line width of less than 500 MHz and a wide tunable frequency range (0.6–6.2 THz) provide sufficient resolution for measuring materials with sharp absorption bands using the generator as the light source for a THz spectrometer. This is suitable for materials such as gases or solid samples at low temperatures. We demonstrated the detection of defects in organic materials, as they appear as slight deviations in the absorption frequency in the THz region.     

Evaluation of coherent homodyne and heterodyne optical CDMA structures

This paper evaluates the coherent optical code-division multiple-access (OCDMA) techniques and examines the overall system performance in terms of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) penalty as a function of simultaneous users accommodated to maintain an appropriate value of the bit-error rate (BER) for homodyne and heterodyne detections. As spreading codes, the proposed structures are utilizing a recently introduced prime code family hereby referred to as double-padded modified prime code (DPMPC). As a coherent modulation, binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) format is deployed. In homodyne detection, two different phase modulations are studied including either an external phase-modulator or injection-locking methods. The phase limitation and the performance for two methods plus multiple-access interferences (MAI) and receiver noise in a shot-noise limited regime are investigated. In heterodyne detection, BER analysis of the system based on only external phase modulator is examined. It is found that by maintaining BER = 10⁻⁹, this system can accommodate an increased number of simultaneous users to compare with systems which employ conventional bipolar codes.     

Coherent phonon generation and detection in ultrathin SrTiO3 grown directly on silicon

Time‐resolved two color pump‐probe polarization spectroscopy was performed at room temperature on SrTiO₃ films grown directly on Si with film thickness varying from 2 nm to 7.8 nm. An E‐symmetry mode with a characteristic frequency of 0.2 THz is impulsively generated and measured in these coherently strained tetragonal phase SrTiO₃ thin films. A superimposed exponentially decaying signal observed indicates the possible relaxational hopping of Ti ion between double potential wells. The dependence of the coherent phonon signal on pump and probe laser polarization helps to identify the symmetry of the phonon modes.     

Coherent THz synchrotron radiation from a storage ring with high-frequency RF system

The generation of brilliant, stable, and broadband coherent synchrotron radiation (CSR) in electron storage rings depends strongly on ring rf system properties such as frequency and gap voltage. We have observed intense coherent radiation at frequencies approaching the THz regime produced by the MIT-Bates South Hall Ring, which employs a high-frequency S-band rf system. The measured CSR spectral intensity enhancement with 2 mA stored current was up to 10,000 times above background for wave numbers near 3 cm(-1). The measurements also uncovered strong beam instabilities that must be suppressed if such a very high rf frequency electron storage ring is to become a viable coherent THz source.     

Third-order nonlinearity of Er3+-doped lead phosphate glass

In a laser coherent combination, the phase detection and control is the most critical. Using the beat frequency method, consistence of the phase in output beams can be ensured through real-time detection and correction for the phase change. Phase noises are controlled by a liquid crystal phase modulator. At the same time, the liquid crystal polarization controller is used to make the polarization state stable, which is good for the improvement of the combining efficiency. The wave length of the main oscillation laser is 532 nm. The output power of laser can be adjusted continuously from 0 to 6 W. The shifted frequency of the system is 40 MHz. The accuracy for phase control is superior to λ/70 RMS. In the process of closed-loop control, using the liquid crystal phase and polarization controller, a better signal phase correction of optical path has been achieved for the coherent combination of high power laser arrays.     

Widely tunable THz synthesizer

The generation of cw-THz radiation by photomixing is particularly suited to the high resolution spectroscopy of gases; nevertheless, until recently, it has suffered from a lack of frequency metrology. Frequency combs are a powerful tool that can transfer microwave frequency standards to optical frequencies and a single comb has permitted accurate (10⁻⁸) THz frequency synthesis with a limited tuning range. A THz synthesizer composed of three extended cavity laser diodes phase locked to a frequency comb has been constructed and its utility for high resolution gas phase spectroscopy demonstrated. The third laser diode allows a larger tuning range of up to 300 MHz to be achieved without the need for large frequency excursions, while the frequency comb provides a versatile link to be established from any traceable microwave frequency standard. The use of a single frequency comb as a reference for all of the cw-lasers eliminates the dependency of synthesized frequency on the carrier envelope offset frequency. This greatly simplifies the frequency comb stabilization requirements and leads to a reduced instrument complexity.     

Frequency stabilization of a frequency-doubled 197.2 THz distributed feedback diode laser on rubidium 5S1/2→7S1/2 two-photon transitions

A 197.2 THz (1520.2 nm) ITU-T grid distributed feedback (DFB) diode laser is frequency stabilized at 197.198 THz by 1ocking its second harmonic (SH) signal on the rubidium 5S_1/2→7S_1/2 two-photon transition at 394.396 THz (760.1 nm). With 100 mW from the DFB diode laser and amplifying by an erbium-doped fiber amplifier, we obtain an SH power of 15 mW using a periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguide frequency doubler. The stability was 2×10⁻¹¹ (10 s), corresponding to a frequency variation of 4 kHz at 1520.2 nm. Our scheme provides a compact and high performance frequency reference in the communication band.     

Phase-alternated compositeπ/2 pulses for solid state quadrupole echo NMR spectroscopy

Phase-alternated compositeπ/2 pulses have been constructed for spinI=1 to overcome quadrupole interaction effects in solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Magnus expansion approach is used to design these sequences in a manner similar to the NMR coherent averaging theory. It is inferred that the symmetric phase-alternated compositeπ/2 pulses reported here are quite successful in producing quadrupole echo free from phase distortions. This effectiveness of the present composite pulses is due to the fact that most of them are of shorter durations as compared to the ones reported in literature. In this theoretical procedure, irreducible spherical tensor operator formalism is employed to simplify the complexity involved in the evaluation of Magnus expansion terms. It has been argued in this paper that compositeπ/2 pulse sequences for this purpose can also be derived from the broadband inversionπ pulses which are designed to compensate electric field gradient (efg) inhomogeneity in spinI=1 nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) spectroscopy.     

玻璃衬底二氧化钒薄膜的宽频带太赫兹波调制特性

针对二氧化钒（VO2）薄膜在可调谐太赫兹功能器件中的应用, 采用磁控溅射法在K9玻璃衬底上制备了VO2薄膜, 并用X射线衍射（XRD）对薄膜的晶相进行表征。利用配备加热装置的太赫兹时域光谱系统（THz-TDS）研究了薄膜样品在变温过程中的THz反射、透射光谱特性及其变化规律。实验结果表明, 随着加热温度的升高, VO2薄膜发生半导体-金属相变并对宽频段THz波产生显著的调制作用。调制深度明显依赖于THz频率, 薄膜样品对THz波反射功率、透射率的幅度调制深度在0.3~0.5 THz范围波动较大;对THz波的透射率在低频处较大, 高频处较小, 调制深度在35%~65%之间变化。该薄膜制备简单, 质量高, 可应用于太赫兹开关和调制器等功能器件。     

Effect of the relative phase between two-colour pump pulses on structure of harmonic spectra

We numerically calculate the high-order harmonic generation (HHG) power spectra from a one-dimensional model atom irradiated by linearly polarised 12 fs two-colour laser pulses composed of a fundamental pulse from Ti:sapphire laser and its second harmonic. It is found that a distinct double plateau structure appears when the relative phase of the two pulses is set as π/8, 2π/8 or 3π/8, and the double plateau structure disappears when the relative phase is set as 4π/8, 5π/8, 6π/8 or 7π/8. The relative-phase-dependent plateau structure is explained by the temporal profile of the synthesised electric fields as well as the semi-classical “three-step” model. Moreover, our numerical result shows that cut-off frequencies of the two-colour pulse HHG spectra can be exactly predicted by use of the semi-classical “three-step” model.     

基于量子增强型光纤马赫-曾德尔干涉仪的低频信号测量

利用低频光通信波段真空压缩态光场可实现基于光纤的量子精密测量.本文利用简并光学参量振荡器实验制备出1550 nm低频真空压缩态光场.在分析频段10—500 kHz范围内压缩态光场的压缩度均达3 dB.用实验制备的1550 nm真空压缩态光场填补光纤马赫-曾德尔干涉仪的真空通道,实现了量子增强型光纤马赫-曾德尔干涉仪,完成了突破标准量子极限的相位调制频率为500 kHz的低频信号测量.与光纤马赫-曾德尔干涉仪相比,测量信噪比提高了2 dB.