Terahertz (THz) vortex beams carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) with high purity and tunable topological charge (TC) will undoubtedly bring extraordinary capacities for advanced imaging or communication systems. We propose a convenient and efficient method to generate a tunable and broadband vortex beam that is excited by superradiant Smith-Purcell radiation (SSPR) on a helical grating. This scheme fully explores the advantages of natural broadband evanescent wave carried by the electron beam and the Bloch's theorem regulated helical periodic systems. An explicit relation is established between the index of the spatial harmonic wave on the grating and the topological charge of the vortex beam. The electron energy in the SSPR can be customized to ignite the specific spatial harmonics and manipulate the OAM beam, accordingly. The separated radiation region also promises the high purity of the OAM spectrum. The harmonic excitation reduces the communality between the wavelength and the device size and alleviates the difficulty of device fabrication in the THz band. The proposed vortex scheme can not only be handily scaled to microwave and mid-infrared regions, but also bring possibilities to applications based on compact tunable vortex beam sources.
A free-electron-driven multi-frequency terahertz (THz) radiation based on a super-grating structure is elucidated in this paper. The super-grating, i.e., periodically depth-modulated metallic grating, has a peculiar dispersion characteristic, similar to the energy bands in a crystal due to the Brillouin zone folding effect. The multi-frequency radiation is stimulated in several directions with the excitation of a free electron as the synchronization points are in the radiative region. The radiation frequency can be independently tuned by the groove depths of the super-grating. The number of frequencies is tailored by the modulated period. Additionally, the multi-frequency THz radiation exhibits a frequency-locked effect during the energy variation of the free electron. Moreover, the radiation field intensity shows a significant enhancement compared with that of a conventional Smith-Purcell radiation. The work is promising for developing efficient on-chip THz radiation sources and boosts advanced THz applications such as communications, multi-frequency imaging, and beam diagnostics, etc.
Recently, ultrathin localized spoof surface plasmon (LSSP) resonators are found to have intrinsic defects of relatively low quality factors (Q-factors) because of unavoidable material and radiation losses. In this paper, multilayer structures of planar-circular-grating resonators and their magnetic-coupling schemes are proposed to achieve effective excitation of high-Q LSSPs modes. By adopting the multilayer structures with air between the layers, the power dissipation effected by both material and radiation losses is significantly suppressed. Experimental results show that the Q-factors could reach more than 200 and the excitation efficiencies could reach more than 90%. Numerical simulations show the distribution of the electromagnetic field and illustrate the principle of magnetic coupling. Besides, the Q-factors of resonators with different structural parameters were measured and analyzed. This study aims to provide some inspirations on planar gyro-devices and to improve the performance of existing applications, such as sensors and filters.
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