Abstract-Engineered phase matching for broad frequency-tunability in terahertz-wave generation from quasi-phase-matched GaP devices

Isao Tomita^1,a)
 HIDE AFFILIATIONS
1 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Gifu National College of Technology, 2236-2 Kamimakuwa, Motosu, Gifu 501-0495, Japan
http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/jap/117/8/10.1063/1.4913477
a) Electronic mail: itomita@gifu-nct.ac.jp
J. Appl. Phys. 117, 083107 (2015); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4913477

A method to obtain broad frequency-tunability in terahertz (THz)-wave generation is proposed using a quasi-phase-matched GaP device that originally has narrow frequency-tunability. In this method, the phase matching curve for the GaP device is engineered via the GaP dispersion relation by shifting the signal frequency to 333.1 THz (0.90 μm) so that a flat part (i.e., a frequency-independent part) can be formed on the phase matching curve. By selecting an appropriate quasi-phase matching (QPM) period Λ such that QPM occurs at the center of the flat part of the curve, we can obtain a frequency-tunable width of 1.34 THz (37.8 μm) at around a THz-wave frequency of 3.26 THz (92.0 μm). This width is 9.9 times wider than that obtained using a similar quasi-phase-matched GaP device at a signal frequency of 193.5 THz (1.55 μm) without the reformed phase matching curve. The advantage of the proposed method is that, unlike a previous method that used a chirped χ ⁽²⁾ grating, broad frequency-tunability is obtained without reducing the high conversion efficiency produced by QPM. For comparison, a reduction in the conversion efficiency for the chirped χ ⁽²⁾ grating method is demonstrated when a 9.9 times wider frequency-tunable width is achieved.