Refraction losses in terahertz computed tomography

Terahertz pulsed imaging has been used to perform computed tomography of three-dimensional objects inducing high refraction losses. We were able to obtain cross-sectional images of the targets by using a computed tomographic analysis of the terahertz signal based on a multi-peak averaging procedure. Some examples are presented of objects with complex shape such as a Teflon cylinder and a dried chicken bone.     

Investigation on diffraction characteristics of continuous terahertz beam limited by hard-edge apertures

Hard-edge apertures are common devices in optical systems. The light beam would be diffracted while transmitting through an aperture. The diffraction characteristics of terahertz (THz) beam passing through two hard-edge apertures have been simulated based on the Fresnel diffraction integral function, and an approximate parallel beam has been obtained. The effect on the diffraction spot has been compared and analyzed by changing the aperture diameter and distance between the two apertures and the diffraction plane. Then the experimental results were presented, which basically accorded with the numerical results. It can be inferred that the diameter of THz beam diminishes and the divergence angle can be neglected after the restriction of two apertures. The method is preferably available in some experiments which require small beam diameter and divergence angle.     

Investigation of the propagation properties of terahertz waves through a semiconductor subwavelength slit

The propagation properties of terahertz (THz) waves through semiconductor conductor-dielectric-conductor (CDC) structure have been investigated. The influence of geometrical parameters, radiation frequencies and temperatures on the propagation properties have been shown and discussed. The contour results demonstrate that as the length of the dielectric filling materials increase, the effective indices of the propagation modes increase. Compared with the results of the metal structure, the effective indices of surface modes through semiconductor InSb slits increase, the propagation length decrease. The effective indices of the surface modes decrease, the propagation lengths increase with the increasing of the carrier concentration. It is expected that the numerical results may be very helpful to have better understand the propagation mechanism of THz waves through semiconductor subwavelength slit.     

Experimental study of air-core dielectric tube at terahertz frequencies

In this paper, an experimental study of air-core dielectric tube waveguide is proposed at terahertz frequencies. By using the THz time domain measure system, the terahertz dispersion characteristics, loss characteristic and energy focusing characteristic of air-core single-layer and dual-layer dielectric tube are obtained. The results show that this type of air-core dielectric tube can realize low dispersion characteristics. Due to the difference of refractive index between two dielectric materials, stronger energy focusing can be achieved in air-core dual-layer dielectric tube. After the coupling of the THz pulse using the dual-layer dielectric tube waveguide, the THz pulse increased 2.4 times compared with the single-layer dielectric tube waveguide at 1.5 THz.     

太赫兹波段介质微腔光学特性研究

采用匀胶法制备了厚度在微米量级的 Si/[TiO₂/Al₂O₃]²TiO₂和Si/[TiO₂/MgO]²/TiO₂ 多层介质膜反射镜. 采用太赫兹(THz)时域透射光谱系统获得了多层膜的时域透射谱. 用传输矩阵法模拟了Si/[TiO₂/Al₂O₃]²TiO₂ 和Si/[TiO₂/MgO]²/TiO₂两种分布式布拉格反射镜 (DBR)的反射相移和相位穿透深度等光学特性. 设计了两种结构为 DBR/LT-GaAs/DBR的对称THz光学微腔结构并模拟了腔结构的辐射光谱. 结果表明:通过引入谐振腔, 两种DBR组成的微腔器件在谐振波长处的强度分别提高了19和14倍. 其中Si/[TiO₂/Al₂O₃]²TiO₂/LT-GaAs (12 μm)/ [TiO₂/Al₂O₃]²TiO₂腔的辐射光谱存在两个峰, 分别位于208和248 μm, 并分析了出现两个谐振峰的原因. 探讨了通过引入介质谐振腔实现对THz源的辐射特性进行调控的可行性. 关键词： 分布式布拉格反射镜 光子晶体 穿透深度 太赫兹微腔     

Transmittance investigation on capacitive mesh on thick dielectric substrates as output windows for optically pumped terahertz lasers

This paper reports that an output window for optically pumped terahertz (THz) laser has been fabricated by depositing a capacitive nickel-mesh on a thick high-resistivity silicon substrate (approximating to 5 mm thick).Unlike the conventional process of depositing a gold film approximating to 100 nm on negative photoresist using electron-beam evaporation,a nickel film approximating to 1.5 μm thick is directly deposited on the clean surface of dielectric substrate using magnetron sputtering and then a positive photoresist is spun onto the nickel metal surface at 6000 r for 60 s.A transmittance spectrum of the output window in a certain frequency range (say,from zero to 1 THz) has been obtained by using THz time domain spectroscopy.Moreover a transmittance spectrum simulated numerically has also been estimated with respect to the output window using the transmission-line model (TLM) containing attenuation component from dielectric substrate.The simulation results show that the TLM can explain well the experimental curve in a certain frequency range from zero to 1 THz.Thus it is demonstrated that the improved optical component can be efficiently used as both output coupler and output window for optically pumped THz lasers.     

intersubband pumping of an : InP symmetric double quantum well terahertz laser

The feasibility of intersubband optical excitation of a terahertz (1–10 THz) or far-infrared (30–300 ) emitter/laser by a laser diode is investigated by means of envelope function/effective mass approximation and subband carrier lifetime calculations. The material system is employed in order to supply the necessary conduction band offset and the basic design is that of a 6-level symmetric double quantum well. This can simultaneously satisfy the criteria of an 800 meV intersubband absorption and a far-infrared emission. It is shown that these device designs can satisfy a necessary criterion for population inversion at room temperature. A scheme for improving the population ratio based on a 9-level triple quantum well is discussed.     

Broadband terahertz ultrasonic transducer based on a laser-driven piezoelectric semiconductor superlattice

Spectral characteristics of laser-generated acoustic waves in an InGaN/GaN superlattice structure are studied at room temperature. Acoustic vibrations in the structure are excited with a femtosecond laser pulse and detected via transmission of a delayed probe pulse. Seven acoustic modes of the superlattice are detected, with frequencies spanning a range from 0.36 to 2.5 THz. Acoustic waves up to ∼2 THz in frequency are not significantly attenuated within the transducer which indicates excellent interface quality of the superlattice. The findings hold promise for broadband THz acoustic spectroscopy.     

A novel method to measure dielectric properties of materials in terahertz spectroscopy

We present a simple method to obtain the optical and dielectric properties of samples without reference measurement in the reflection-type terahertz time-domain spectroscopy. The dielectric properties of the samples of silicon and gallium arsenide were examined. The optical and dielectric properties of the samples were measured through only simple configuration, without the misplacement error. The obtained dielectric functions of the samples in reflection geometry are in good agreement with that predicated by the theory. The main advantage of this method over other methods is its simplicity and accuracy and ease for application of the reflection systems with different incident angle.     

All-optical reconfigurable logic operations with the help of terahertz optical asymmetric demultiplexer

An all-optical reconfigurable logic operation essentially constitutes a key technology for avoiding complex and speed limited optoelectronics conversions and performing various processing tasks. All-optical reconfigurable logic operations with the help of terahertz optical asymmetric demultiplexer (TOAD) is proposed and described. The paper describes the all-optical reconfigurable logic operations using a set of all-optical multiplexer and optical switches. We have tried to exploit the advantages of TOAD-based switch to design an integrated all-optical circuit which can perform the different logic operations AND, XOR, NOR and NOT. Numerical simulation confirming described methods is given in this paper.     

Theoretical and experimental investigations of the temperature dependent continuous wave lasing characteristics and the switch-on dynamics of an InAs/InGaAs quantum-dot semiconductor laser

We investigate spectrally resolved continuous wave (CW) and spectrally and time-resolved switch-on emission properties of an InAs/InGaAs quantum-dot laser. The temperature and injection current dependence of the excited-state and ground-state emission dynamics is studied in the range between 20 °C and 50 °C under CW and gain-switching operation. All the experimental results are found to be in good agreement with simulation results based on a multi-population rate equation model incorporating all of the peculiar properties of the quantum-dot material as homogeneous and inhomogeneous broadening of the emission linewidth, different dynamics for electrons and holes, cascaded and direct capture paths of carriers from the wetting layer into the dot and Auger non-radiative recombination. This coincidence between simulations and experiments allows explaining the complicated behavior of the CW characteristics and the switch-on dynamics in the investigated temperature range.     

基于太赫兹量子级联激光器的实时成像研究进展

太赫兹(THz)实时成像是THz技术中颇具潜力的一个领域,具有成像速度快、成像分辨率高等特点,基于THz量子级联激光器(QCL)的实时成像系统是其中最重要的一种,系统体积小、重量轻、成像信噪比高等特点使其在实际应用中具有独特的优势。本文主要介绍了THz QCL器件及其实时成像系统的研究进展,采用超半球高阻硅透镜改善了THz QCL的输出激光,实现了准高斯光束输出,搭建了基于二维摆镜消干涉技术的THz实时成像系统,单帧成像光斑面积45mm×30 mm,实现了对刀片、药片的实时成像演示,成像分辨率优于0.5 mm;最后对成像系统激光源、成像光路和探测端的改进以及成像效果的改善方面进行了综述,并探讨了THz实时成像系统未来的发展趋势及其在材料分析和生物医学成像方面的应用前景。     

High power room-temperature design of terahertz quantum cascade laser based on difference frequency generation

Terahertz (THz) quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) are key elements for high-power terahertz beam generation for integrated applications. In this study, we design a highly nonlinear THz-QCL active region in order to increase the output power of the device especially at lower THz frequencies based on difference frequency generation (DFG) process. It has been shown that the output power increases for a 3.2 THz structure up to 1.2 μW at room temperature in comparison with the reported power of P = 0.3 μW in [1]. The mid-IR wavelengths associated with this laser are λ₁ = 12.12 μm and λ₂ = 13.93 μm, which are mixed in a medium with high second-order nonlinearity. A similar approach has been used to design an active region with THz frequency of 1.8 THz. The output power of this structure reaches to 1 μW at room temperature where the mid-IR wavelengths are λ₁ = 12.05 μm, λ₂ = 12.99 μm.     

Phase relations between focused bichromatic laser pulses in terahertz wave generation from gas plasma

Terahertz emission from air excited by the tightly focused fundamental and second harmonic pulses of femtosecond Ti:Sapphire laser has been analyzed. It has been found that the curved phase fronts of the pump waves cancel each other resulting in the flat phase front of the nonlinear polarization at terahertz frequency. Also, in addition to the phase terms obtained using plane-wave approximation, we have found the yet unreported phase term, which in most cases can be as large as π/2.     

Photonic engineering of surface‐emitting terahertz quantum cascade lasers

Various resonators for surface emission are reviewed that have recently been developed to improve radiative‐ and collection‐efficiencies of terahertz quantum cascade lasers (THz QCL). While the fabrication of waveguides for long wavelengths is challenging in terms of molecular beam epitaxy, long wavelengths also provide a wonderful testbed for new photonics structure concepts, since these can be easily produced by conventional optical lithography because of the typically large size of the required features. This led to novel geometries, like one‐ and two‐dimensional non‐periodic photonic crystals, or circular gratings for microdisk‐ and ring‐lasers, which are all implemented by simply patterning the top metal cladding of a metal‐metal waveguide. The modeling of such resonators with the finite element method is also described, highlighting the importance of this tool for the engineering of surface losses and far‐field patterns.     

On generation of electromagnetic waves in the terahertz frequency range in a multilayered open dielectric waveguide

We show that it is possible to produce terahertz wave generation in an open waveguide, which includes a multilayer dielectric plate. The plate consists of two dielectric layers with a corrugated interface. Electrons, drifting in the potential well, interact with the non-uniform electric field which is induced near the dielectric interface by the natural wave of the waveguide. The corrugated period and parameters of the electronic system are chosen in order to ensure the most effective interaction of electrons with a wave. Generation of electromagnetic waves is achieved by converting the electrons? energy into the electromagnetic wave energy.     

Compton散射下太赫兹波段介质微腔光学特性

应用Compton散射模型、1维等离子体光子晶体模型和数值计算方法,研究太赫兹波段介质微腔光学特性,给出了系统反射率、反射相移和相位穿透深度修正方程和实验验证。结果表明：与散射前相比,系统中心波长左移15 ,这是因散射使等离子体层中电子与光子碰撞频率增大效应导致系统振荡频率增大的缘故;反射相移在截止区与波长呈准线性关系,中心波长处相对 有一定偏离,这是因散射使等离子体层中电子辐射阻尼增强效应导致系统振荡频率减小的缘故;禁带区相位穿透深度增大,这是因散射与入射光形成的耦合光与入射光在禁带区的相位不同,导致入射光禁带对于耦合光产生局部失效的缘故。谐振峰左移15 ,强度提高了22倍,这是因散射产生的等离子体频率和电子辐射阻尼增大效应使系统中心波长左移,透射几率增大,从而导致透射禁带两个谐振峰左移和谐振峰强度提高的缘故。     

Compton散射下太赫兹波段介质微腔光学特性

应用Compton散射模型、1维等离子体光子晶体模型和数值计算方法,研究太赫兹波段介质微腔光学特性,给出了系统反射率、反射相移和相位穿透深度修正方程和实验验证。结果表明：与散射前相比,系统中心波长左移15 ,这是因散射使等离子体层中电子与光子碰撞频率增大效应导致系统振荡频率增大的缘故;反射相移在截止区与波长呈准线性关系,中心波长处相对 有一定偏离,这是因散射使等离子体层中电子辐射阻尼增强效应导致系统振荡频率减小的缘故;禁带区相位穿透深度增大,这是因散射与入射光形成的耦合光与入射光在禁带区的相位不同,导致入射光禁带对于耦合光产生局部失效的缘故。谐振峰左移15 ,强度提高了22倍,这是因散射产生的等离子体频率和电子辐射阻尼增大效应使系统中心波长左移,透射几率增大,从而导致透射禁带两个谐振峰左移和谐振峰强度提高的缘故。     

All-optical burst-mode clock extraction based on the thresholding operation of a modified terahertz optical asymmetric demultiplexer

To implement all-optical burst-mode clock extraction we adopt a modified terahertz optical asymmetric demultiplexer (MTOAD). The transmittance and reflectance of the MTOAD depend on the input intensity. For the MTOAD, two levels of pulse intensity can be chosen in such a way that while the pulses with similar intensity are reflected for both strong and weak pulses, only the strong pulse transmits. The device is useful, for example, for bit-level clock extraction from a packet, where strong and weak intensity pulses are assigned to ‘1' and ‘0', respectively. When the input optical signal power is fixed to −1.6 dBm and the intensity ratio between ‘1' and ‘0' is varied in the range of 0.2–0.5, the extinction ratio (ER) at the transmitted port is more than 10 dB and a clock amplitude jitter (CAJ) of the bit-level clock at the reflected port is less than 14%. Inversely, when the input power is varied in the range of −6–−1 dBm with fixed intensity ratio of 0.3, more than 11 dB of ER and less than 15% of CAJ are obtained.     

两层介质减反膜及其在半导体光电器件中的应用

本文提出了两层介质减反膜的膜系设计方法,导出了用于半导体激光放大器的最佳减反膜系参数,分析了膜层厚度误差对膜系特性的影响,并在行波半导体激光放大器及光探测器上得到了满意的试验结果。