Electromagnetic Wave Propagation Close to Microstructures Studied by Time and Phase-Resolved THz Near-Field Imaging

We demonstrate microscopic mapping of electromagnetic waves close to metal microstructures with sub-ps temporal and sub-wavelength spatial resolution by pulsed THz near-field imaging. The inherent phase-sensitivity of this technique allows mapping wavefronts of propagating modes and the measured amplitude distributions provide information on field concentration and localization close to the structures. Using this approach we investigate wave propagation through a sub-wavelength aperture, as well as the formation of traveling and standing surface waves along a metal microwire.     

Spatiotemporal Visualization of THz Near-Fields in Metamaterial Arrays

We present an experimental approach to record the spatiotemporal electric field distribution of coherent broadband THz pulses propagating through planar metamaterial arrays. The electric field can be measured with sub-wavelength precision within a volume that is several wavelengths in size, thus, having the potential to map the near-field to far-field transition of the resonant structures constituting the metamaterial. To demonstrate the potential we present measurements of THz pulses propagating through a planar array of double split-ring resonators and their inverse analogues.     

基于半导体等离子体频率光学调控的太赫兹波调制系统

介绍了一种太赫兹波光学调制系统,该系统首先通过刀片与半导体之间的狭缝实现太赫兹波和太赫兹表面等离子体波之间的耦合,然后通过改变照射到本征半导体表面的光强用以调控半导体表面的等离子体频率,使得半导体表面的等离子体频率在有光照和无光照条件下分别大于和小于其上传输的太赫兹表面等离子体波的频率,从而实现对在半导体表面传输的太赫兹表面等离子体波以及由其耦合出的太赫兹波的强度调控。该调制方法与传统方法相比具有调控频带宽、速度快、成本低、常温工作等优点,可用于太赫兹波通讯。仿真和实验结果进一步验证了该调制系统应用的可行性。     

介质加载表面等离激元的近场光学观测

利用扫描近场光学显微术(SNOM),观测并分析了基于银膜衬底上CdS纳米带的介质加载表面等离激元(Dielectric-loaded Surface Plasmon Polariton,DLSPP)的激发现象.通过SNOM可以观察到纳米带不同位置的光致荧光光谱峰位有30 meV的红移量.利用Franz-Keldysh效应可以很好地解释能量红移的产生.有限时域差分法的模拟结果进一步验证了实验中观测的现象.这种DLSPP的激发结构,对于光子集成电路及基于等离激元的微纳器件波导有实际意义.     

亚波长金属光栅的凹槽深度对太赫兹伪表面等离子体影响

从理论上详细研究了一维亚波长金属光栅的凹槽深度对太赫兹伪表面等离子的影响。分别对一维标准亚波长金属光栅和缺陷亚波长金属光栅进行了研究。电场分布情况采用了COMSOL软件进行模拟。得到的结论是:对于一维标准亚波长金属光栅,沿金属光栅传播的表面等离子体取决于槽深度,较深的槽具有更强的束缚能力;对于具有缺陷的光栅结构,电场强度的分布特点取决于缺陷槽的深度,这归功于缺陷槽对光的反射和散射。基于这一理论研究,这两种不同的亚波长金属光栅结构能为太赫兹器件如波导、衰减器及滤波器发展提供新的途征。     

太赫兹近场成像技术及进展

太赫兹(THz)波具有能量低、穿透性强、频带宽等特点,因而太赫兹成像技术在无损检测、生物医药、安全检测等众多领域得到了广泛应用,在实际应用中如何提高太赫兹成像的分辨力变得越来越重要。由于太赫兹近场成像技术可突破衍射极限,获得分辨力为亚微米甚至是纳米量级的高质量图像,基于近场技术的高分辨THz成像技术相继被提出,并得到了进一步的应用。本文首先阐述了太赫兹近场成像的基本原理;其次总结了近场成像进展及增强方法;最后对太赫兹近场成像的未来进行了展望。     

Josephson Plasmon Resonance in Tl2Ba2CaCu2O8 High-Temperature Superconductor Tunable Terahertz Metamaterials

The Josephson plasmon resonance (JPR) offers a valuable probe to investigate the superconductivity in layered cuprate superconductors. However, the coupling between free space radiation and JPR in high-temperature superconductor (HTS) film remains challenging because the excitation of JPR demands the c-axis oriented electric field. The subwavelength resonators in metamaterials can enhance the localized electric field, which can be utilized to resolve this difficulty. Here, a tunable terahertz (THz) metamaterial made from Tl₂Ba₂CaCu₂O₈ (Tl-2212) HTS film is developed. The spectral response of Tl-2212 metamaterial has a tunable property at temperatures up to 90 K. The resonant excitation of Josephson plasmon in the metamaterial is observed. Simulation results indicate that the scattering of subwavelength resonators can provide the component of the z-axis electric field for the resonant excitation. The coupling between JPR and resonance modes of metamaterials is observed and explained using coupled mode theory. The temperature dependence of JPR frequency shows accordance with the experimental results of the pure film. This work provides an avenue to excite the JPR and probe superconducting condensate in the layered superconductor. The development of Josephson plasmonic metamaterials may contribute to tunable and nonlinear THz devices.     

碳纳米管束/介质界面表面波激发与传输特性

基于表面等离子体波产生的物理机理和其新颖特性,设计出能够激发太赫兹表面等离子体波的两种圆柱体周期性光栅结构模型.通过研究周期性阵列结构中表面等离子体波的色散关系,理论预测了表面等离子体波的共振频率,并在仿真实验结果中得到验证.通过观察表面等离子波电场的变化,结合理论详细分析了界面处表面波随各因素的变化规律.研究结果表明,垂直结构的碳纳米管束半径为24 m,栅周期为95 m时,激发的表面等离子波最强;而对于水平结构,半径为25 m,栅周期为120 m时,所激发表面等离子波最强.其研究结果对利用等离子波探测THz信号和THz传感器的设计有重要指导意义.     

Improving Spatial Resolution of Real-Time Terahertz Near-Field Microscope

Terahertz (THz) wave imaging for biomaterial samples such as cells requires real-time acquisition and high spatial resolution beyond the diffraction limit. The existing THz near-field microscopes are based on raster-scanning techniques, and are therefore not able to image and trace morphological changes in a large area. With the recent advances in high-power THz sources, we demonstrated how to achieve high spatial resolution over a large size using a conventional charge-coupled-device (CCD) camera with the electro?Coptic (EO) sampling technique. In this paper, we determine a limiting factor that restricts spatial resolution in our near-field microscope. By calculating the imaging performance of the probe beam together with THz wave diffraction, we show that the most relevant factor is the diffraction inside the EO crystal. Near-field imaging of metal patterns using EO crystals with different thicknesses supports this calculation. A thin EO crystal is essential for achieving THz images with high spatial resolution.     

猪肉组织的近场太赫兹成像检测研究

利用搭建的基于光电导微探针的近场太赫兹(Terahertz,THz)系统对新鲜猪肉组织切片进行了成像检测研究,结果发现近场THz成像可以很好地区分猪肉组织中的脂肪组织区域和肌肉组织区域,其成像效果明显优于传统远场THz时域光谱成像系统。研究表明了基于光电导微探针的近场THz成像技术在生物样品检测方面的可行性,展示出该技术在生物医学检测领域具有很好的应用前景。     

Cancer Diagnosis by Terahertz Molecular Imaging Technique

We obtained the diagnostic images of cancerous tumors by employing the THz molecular imaging (TMI) technique which measured the THz response change by surface plasmon resonance induced on the surface of nanoparticles with a irradiation of near-infrared (NIR) beam. To demonstrate the principle of the TMI technique, THz images of tissues with nanoprobes were observed and compared with THz only images. The sensitivity of TMI was further enhanced by adopting a THz differential measurement technique, which was realized by modulating the NIR beams. By employing this differential TMI technique, the diagnostic images of cancerous tumors were obtained ex vivo and in vivo in the preclinical stage. These images indicated the feasibility of applying the differential TMI technique in the clinical stage.     

渐变结构仿表面等离子体太赫兹传输线研究

本文利用有限元方法对圆柱开槽仿表面等离子体太赫兹(Terahertz,THz)传输线进行了详细的数值模拟研究,提出了一种尺寸渐变的仿表面等离子体THz传输线结构,发现在金属线上沿轴向构造渐深渐宽槽有利于将场能量最大程度地限制在导体表面,且能够汇聚电磁波,使得传输线表面波在传输过程中得到增强.研究结果将利于THz传输、近场成像、光谱和传感等应用.     

偏置电压驱动下AlGaN/GaN二维电子气的宽谱太赫兹波发射

本文介绍了低温（6 K）下偏置电压加速AlGaN/GaN二维电子气产生的宽谱太赫兹波发射。根据“浅水波”等离子体波失稳理论和史密斯-珀塞尔理论,分别设计了两种器件结构。实验结果表明所观测到的太赫兹辐射与电子浓度无明显依赖关系,得到的而是自于晶格和热电子的黑体辐射。通过考虑湿度和衬底法布里-珀罗谐振腔作用,计算得到的热电子发射光谱与实验光谱良好吻合。研究结果表明通过电流驱动二维电子气产生太赫兹辐射的器件将不可避免地产生强烈的电子气加热和晶格加热问题,很难实现理论预言的等离子体波失稳与高效太赫兹发射。因此,需要设计更加精巧的器件结构才能实现高效的等离子体波激发和太赫兹发射。     

表面等离子体近场光刻制作二维纳米阵列

重点介绍了采用表面等离子体增强效应的近场光刻制作亚微米结构的二维点阵图形的技术。在研究亚波长纳米孔阵列超透射现象基本原理的基础上,应用有限差分时域(FDTD)算法数值模拟了周期性孔阵列的电场强度分布,讨论了纳米孔阵列所激发的表面等离子体激元提高近场光刻分辨率的微观机制。以金膜上的亚波长纳米孔阵列作为掩模版进行了接触式曝光实验,实际制作出了光刻胶的亚波长二维点阵图形,点阵图形的直径约为300nm,周期约为700nm。这种新型的微纳加工技术具有应用简单、成本低等特点,在大规模二维纳米点阵的制作方面有一定的应用潜力。     

Metal-Coated Defect-Core Photonic Crystal Fiber for THz Propagation

Modal solutions for metal-coated defect-core photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with a central air-hole have been obtained by using a full-vectorial finite element method to model the guidance of THz waves. It has been shown that the surface plasmon modes can couple with the defect-core PCF mode to form supermodes, with potential for sensing applications.      

Metal-Coated <100>-Cut GaAs Coupled to Tapered Parallel-Plate Waveguide for Cherenkov-Phase-Matched Terahertz Detection: Influence of Crystal Thickness

The influence of crystal thickness of metal-coated <100>-cut GaAs (M-G-M) on Cherenkov-phase-matched terahertz (THz) pulse detection was studied. The M-G-M detectors were utilized in conjunction with a metallic tapered parallel-plate waveguide (TPPWG). Polarization-sensitive measurements were carried out to exemplify the efficacy of GaAs in detecting transverse magnetic (TM)- and transverse electric (TE)-polarized THz waves. The reduction of GaAs’ thickness increased the THz amplitude spectra of the detected TM-polarized THz electro-optic (EO) signal due to enhanced electric field associated with a more tightly-focused and well-concentrated THz radiation on the thinner M-G-M. The higher-fluence THz beam coupled to the thinner M-G-M improved the integrated intensity of the detected THz amplitude spectrum. This trend was not observed for TE-polarized THz waves, wherein the integrated intensities were almost comparable. Nevertheless, good agreement of spectral line shapes of the superposed TM- and TE-polarized THz-EO signals with that of elliptically polarized THz-EO signal demonstrates excellent polarization-resolved detection capabilities of M-G-M via Cherenkov-phase-matched EO sampling technique.     

基于石墨烯超材料的三频段可调谐完美吸收器

为进一步降低太赫兹频率下高性能调控器件的结构复杂度,提出一种三频段可调谐超材料完美吸收器. 该吸收器由图案化的石墨烯层和经Si介质层隔开的Au接地平面组成,利用太赫兹下的石墨烯表面等离子体共振以及图案化石墨烯与电场耦合提供的电偶极子共振形成多个吸收峰. 数值仿真结果表明,在0.489 THz、1.492 THz和2.437 THz处实现了对入射波的共振吸收,各峰值处的幅值均大于99.9%. 由于吸收峰处的幅值可以通过外部施加的偏置电压改变石墨烯的费米能级进行控制,因而所提出的吸收器结构的工作状态可在反射器和吸收器之间灵活切换. 同时,通过对吸收器单元结构的对称设计实现了对极化角度的不敏感特性,且在宽入射角范围内仍能保持良好的吸收性能. 因此,所设计的基于石墨烯的太赫兹超材料功能器件在调制和传感方面具有巨大的潜力.     

双层金属环形阵列的太赫兹表面等离子体研究

研究了太赫兹波垂直通过具有周期性亚波长环形空气槽阵列的金属-介质-金属三层结构的透射谱特性,以及与表面等离子体谐振的关系。共振模式电场分布与色散曲线分别表明:表面等离子体具有束缚性,表面电磁波的传输机制与能量流动过程,透射谱的两个共振峰与传播性的表面等离子体模式、局域化的表面等离子体模式及其耦合有关。改变结构的几何参数,其共振峰变化趋势进一步印证了以上观点,并且空气环中激发的准波导效应也影响了太赫兹波的传输。     

Electro-optically Induced and Manipulated Terahertz Waves from Fe-doped InGaAs Surfaces

We demonstrate the presence of dual simultaneous nonlinear mechanisms: field-induced optical rectification (FIOR) and field-induced surge current (FISC) for the generation of terahertz (THz) pulses from p-type and n-type Fe:In_0.53Ga_0.47As surfaces upon excitation with femtosecond laser pulses centered at 800 nm wavelength. Experimental investigations of the dependence of the generated THz waves on the incident angular optical polarization, optical irradiance, and the direction and magnitude of applied electric DC fields give confirming results to the proposed THz generation mechanisms. Applying external DC electric fields in the plane of the incident optical field shows efficient capability in manipulating the direction and phase of the generated THz waves, and controlling the refractive index of Fe:In_0.53Ga_0.47As material in the THz range, in addition to enhancing the emitted THz power up to two orders of magnitude. The fast and reliable response of Fe:In_0.53Ga_0.47As to the changes in the direction and magnitude of the optical and electrical fields suggests its use in amplitude and phase modulators, and ultrafast optoelectronic systems.     

基于太赫兹等离激元的半导体表面生化薄膜光谱检测

我们提出了一种利用太赫兹表面等离激元对放置在半导体表面的生化薄膜进行光谱测量的新方法。我们从理论上证明了半导体材料对其上传输的太赫兹表面等离子体波具有较强的表面束缚性,从而提高太赫兹波与半导体表面的生化薄膜之间的相互作用。通过采用太赫兹时域光谱测量系统,我们从实验上分别得到了洋葱表皮的太赫兹表面等离子体波和自由空间太赫兹波透射波谱。实验结果表明,当测量对象是厚度仅为自由空间太赫兹波波长的约百分之一的单层洋葱表皮时,表面等离子体波的透射波谱与自由空间太赫兹波透射波谱相比具有更加多的特征吸收峰。