Abstract-1.4‐mJ High Energy Terahertz Radiation from Lithium Niobates

 

Baolong Zhang,  Zhenzhe Ma, Jinglong Ma,  Xiaojun Wu,  Chen Ouyang,  Deyin Kong,  Tianshu Hong,  Xuan Wang,  Peidi Yang, Liming Chen, Yutong Li, Jie Zhang, 

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/lpor.202000295

Free‐space super‐strong terahertz (THz) electromagnetic fields offer multifaceted capabilities for reaching extreme nonlinear THz optics. However, the lack of powerful solid‐state THz sources with single pulse energy >1 mJ is impeding the proliferation of extreme THz applications. The fundamental challenge lies in hard to achieve high efficiency due to high intensity pumping caused crystal damage, linear absorption, and nonlinear distortion induced short effective interaction length, and so on. Here, through cryogenically cooling the crystals, tailoring the pump laser spectra, chirping the pump pulses, and magnifying the laser energies, 1.4‐mJ THz pulses are successfully realized in lithium niobates under the excitation of 214‐mJ femtosecond laser pulses via tilted pulse front technique. The 800 nm‐to‐THz energy conversion efficiency reaches 0.7%, and a free‐space THz peak electric and magnetic field reaches 6.3 MV cm−1 and 2.1 Tesla. Numerical simulations reproduce the experimental optimization processes. To show the capability of this super‐strong THz source, nonlinear absorption in high conductive silicon induced by strong THz electric field is demonstrated. Such a high‐energy THz source with a relatively low peak frequency is very appropriate not only for electron acceleration toward table‐top X‐ray sources but also for extreme THz science and nonlinear applications.

Abstract-Terahertz strong-field physics in light-emitting diodes for terahertz detection and imaging

Communications Physics

Chen Ouyang, Shangqing Li, Jinglong Ma, Baolong Zhang, Xiaojun Wu, Wenning Ren, Xuan Wang, Dan Wang, Zhenzhe Ma, Tianze Wang, Tianshu Hong, Peidi Yang, Zhe Cheng, Yun Zhang, Kuijuan Jin,  Yutong Li

https://www.nature.com/articles/s42005-020-00508-w

Intense terahertz (THz) electromagnetic fields have been utilized to reveal a variety of extremely nonlinear optical effects in many materials through nonperturbative driving of elementary and collective excitations. However, such nonlinear photoresponses have not yet been obeserved in light-emitting diodes (LEDs), let alone employing them as fast, cost-effective, compact, and room-temperature-operating THz detectors and cameras. Here, we report ubiquitously available LEDs exhibiting photovoltaic signals of ~0.8 V and ~2 ns response time with signal-to-noise ratios of ~1300 when being illuminated by THz field strengths ~240 kV/cm. We also demonstrated THz-LED detectors and camera prototypes. These unorthodox THz detectors exhibited high responsivities (>1 kV/W) with response time four orders of magnitude shorter than those of pyroelectric detectors. The mechanism was attributed to THz-field-induced impact ionization and Schottky contact. These findings not only help deepen our understanding of strong THz field-matter interactions but also contribute to the applications of strong-field THz diagnosis.

Abstract-Terahertz Strong-Field Physics in Light-Emitting Diodes for Terahertz Detection and Imaging

Chen Ouyang, Shangqing Li, Jinglong Ma, Baolong Zhang, Xiaojun Wu, Wenning Ren, Xuan Wang, Dan Wang, Zhenzhe Ma, Tianze Wang, Tianshu Hong, Peidi Yang, Zhe Cheng, Yun Zhang, Kuijuan Jin, Yutong Li

https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.14093

Intense terahertz (THz) electromagnetic fields have been utilized to reveal a variety of extremely nonlinear optical effects in many materials through nonperturbative driving of elementary and collective excitations. However, such nonlinear photoresponses have not yet been discovered in light-emitting diodes (LEDs), letting alone employing them as fast, cost effective,compact, and room-temperature-operating THz detectors and cameras. Here we report ubiquitously available LEDs exhibited gigantic and fast photovoltaic signals with excellent signal-to-noise ratios when being illuminated by THz field strengths >50 kV/cm. We also successfully demonstrated THz-LED detectors and camera prototypes. These unorthodox THz detectors exhibited high responsivities (>1 kV/W) with response time shorter than those of pyroelectric detectors by four orders of magnitude. The detection mechanism was attributed to THz-field-induced nonlinear impact ionization and Schottky contact. These findings not only help deepen our understanding of strong THz field-matter interactions but also greatly contribute to the applications of strong-field THz diagnosis.