Free-electron Driven Terahertz Wave Sources Based on Simth-Purcell Effect

Terahertz electromagnetic wave is one of the hottest research topics in nowadays scientific world thanks to its broad applications in material characterization, medical imaging, wireless communication, and security checking etc. Using free-electron beams to interact with periodic structures via the famous Smith-Purcell effect is an efficient way of generating high-power terahertz radiation. In this chapter, we introduce the basic theory and latest developments of the terahertz radiation schemes using a free-electron beam (including continuous electron beam, a single electron bunch, and a train of electron bunches, etc.) to interact with periodic electromagnetic structures, including grating, surface plasmonics, and subwavelength hole arrays, via a special Smith-Purcell effect or Cherenkov-like effect. A kind of free-electron lasers based on the special Smith-Purcell radiation in the terahertz region is proposed and investigated, which can be developed as high-power terahertz wave sources for practical applications.

Optically Tunable Terahertz Metasurfaces Using Liquid Crystal Cells Coated with Photoalignment Layers

An optically tunable terahertz filter was fabricated using a metasurface-imbedded liquid crystal (LC) cell with photoalignment layers in this work. The LC director in the cell is aligned by a pump beam and makes angles θ of 0, 30, 60 and 90° with respect to the gaps of the split-ring resonators (SRRs) of the metasurface under various polarized directions of the pump beam. Experimental results display that the resonance frequency of the metasurface in the cell increases with an increase in θ, and the cell has a frequency tuning region of 15 GHz. Simulated results reveal that the increase in the resonance frequency arises from the birefringence of the LC, and the LC has a birefringence of 0.13 in the terahertz region. The resonance frequency of the metasurface is shifted using the pump beam, so the metasurface-imbedded LC cell with the photoalignment layers is an optically tunable terahertz filter. The optically tunable terahertz filter is promising for applications in terahertz telecommunication, biosensing and terahertz imaging.

Optical Heterodyne Measurement of Terahertz Wave

One of the most notable frequency regions in terms of research currently lies in the ‘frequency gap’ region between microwaves and infrared: terahertz wave. Although new methods for generating and detecting terahertz wave have been developed, few detectors operating at room temperature are able to capture low-energy terahertz beams. Here we introduce the optical heterodyne measurement (nonlinear frequency up-conversion detection) of terahertz wave using parametric wavelength conversion in a nonlinear crystal; this has better sensitivity than many commonly used thermal detectors such as pyroelectric detectors. Additionally, optical heterodyne techniques allow the beams of terahertz wave to be visualized and their frequency and intensity determined directly as visible light. These are very promising for extending applied researches into the terahertz region, and we expect that these will open new research fields such as wireless information communications or non-destructive inspection in the terahertz region.