Quarter-cycle engineering of terahertz field waveforms

Shu, Lei; Li, Y; Chen, L; Shi, Jie; Chai, Lu; Wang, C; Федотов, А. Б.; Желтиков, А. М.

doi:10.1088/1612-2011/11/8/085404

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 28 publications

(32 reference statements)

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“…To date, the THz generation schemes through optical rectification have been largely limited to bulk systems which come with several shortcomings. First, there is a very limited leverage over tailoring the generated THz emission unless through complex pump pulse shaping [29,30], external switches [31] or multi-pulse setups [32]. Second, the phase matching properties are fixed by the refractive index mismatch at THz and pumping frequencies in bulk crystals and can not be controlled.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Terahertz waveform synthesis from integrated lithium niobate circuits

Herter¹,

Shams-Ansari²,

Settembrini³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Bridging the "terahertz (THz) gap" relies upon synthesizing arbitrary waveforms in the THz domain enabling applications that require both narrow band sources for sensing and few-cycle drives for classical and quantum objects. However, realization of custom-tailored waveforms needed for these applications is currently hindered due to limited flexibility for optical rectification of femtosecond pulses in bulk crystals. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) circuits provide a versatile solution for such waveform synthesis through combining the merits of complex integrated architectures, low-loss distribution of pump pulses on-chip, and an efficient optical rectification. Our distributed pulse phase-matching scheme grants shaping the temporal, spectral, phase, amplitude, and farfield characteristics of the emitted THz field through designer on-chip components. This strictly circumvents prior limitations caused by the phase-delay mismatch in conventional systems and relaxes the requirement for cumbersome spectral pre-engineering of the pumping light. We provide a toolbox of basic blocks that produce broadband emission up to 680 GHz with adaptable phase and coherence properties by using near-infrared pump pulse energies below 100 pJ.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Terahertz waveform synthesis from integrated lithium niobate circuits

Herter¹,

Shams-Ansari²,

Settembrini³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…Extremely short, subcycle electromagnetic field waveforms are rapidly emerging as powerful tools for ultrafast optics and photonic technologies 1 – 3 , enabling an unprecedented, subfemtosecond time resolution in laser spectroscopy 4 , 5 and an ultimate, subcycle precision in lightwave sculpting 6 , 7 . Subcycle field waveforms are not unusual in terahertz technologies 8 , where such waveforms are generated as a result of optical rectification 9 , 10 , providing means for time-domain spectroscopy 11 , terahertz sensing 12 , and sub-quarter-cycle engineering 13 . Terahertz field cycles are, clearly, too long to be relevant as probes for ultrafast dynamics in molecules, let alone the attosecond dynamics of electron wave packets and electron excitations in atoms and solids.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sub-half-cycle field transients from shock-wave-assisted soliton self-compression

Voronin

Желтиков

2020

Sci Rep

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We identify an unusual regime of ultrafast nonlinear dynamics in which an optical shock wave couples to soliton self-compression, steepening the tail of the pulse, thus yielding self-compressing soliton transients as short as the field sub-half-cycle. We demonstrate that this extreme pulse self-compression scenario can help generate sub-half-cycle mid-infrared pulses in a broad class of anomalously dispersive optical waveguide systems. Extremely short, subcycle electromagnetic field waveforms are rapidly emerging as powerful tools for ultrafast optics and photonic technologies 1-3 , enabling an unprecedented, subfemtosecond time resolution in laser spectroscopy 4,5 and an ultimate, subcycle precision in lightwave sculpting 6,7. Subcycle field waveforms are not unusual in terahertz technologies 8 , where such waveforms are generated as a result of optical rectification 9,10 , providing means for time-domain spectroscopy 11 , terahertz sensing 12 , and sub-quarter-cycle engineering 13. Terahertz field cycles are, clearly, too long to be relevant as probes for ultrafast dynamics in molecules, let alone the attosecond dynamics of electron wave packets and electron excitations in atoms and solids. Yet, the significance of the early work on subcycle terahertz field transients 8,9,14 is hard to overestimate-we owe it much of our understanding of fundamental properties of subcycle pulses and the universal tendencies in their unusual propagation dynamics. Optical methods of subcycle pulse generation rely on coherent field waveform synthesis 2 operating with high-order harmonics 15 , multiple Raman sidebands 16-19 , frequency-shifted supercontinua from hollow-core fibers 1,6 , and cascaded parametric amplification 20. As a promising alternative, anomalous-dispersion-assisted multioctave supercontinuum generation in solid materials 21 and guided-wave soliton self-compression (SSC) 22,23 can help create efficient sources of subcycle pulses covering a broad range of frequencies and peak powers. Here, we identify an unusual regime of ultrafast nonlinear dynamics in which an optical shock wave couples to soliton self-compression, steepening the tail of the pulse, thus yielding self-compressing soliton transients as short as the field sub-half-cycle. Optical shock waves are inevitable when the pulse duration of a field waveform approaches the field cycle 24. As their archetypical signature, optical shock waves tend to steepen the tail of the pulse, blue-shifting its spectrum 25. In special regimes of three-dimensional free-beam propagation, optical shock waves have been shown to force field waveforms to self-compress to subcycle pulse widths 26. Ordinarily, however, when building up via waveguide short-pulse evolution, optical shock waves do not lead to pulse shortening as a whole, giving rise to pulses with sharper trailing edges and asymmetric supercontinua. Still, our analysis presented in this paper shows that, when coupled to soliton self-compression an optical shock facilitates the generation of extraordinarily short field...

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“…However, some specific applications require high-energy THz pulses with a variable delay in the picoseconds range. These can be obtained by shaping the pumping laser pulses [18][19][20]. A special case is that of the THz pump and THz probe method used in the nonlinear spectroscopy of semiconductors [21,22] and controlled rotational-vibrational motions in molecules [23,24], which requires high energy THz subpulses separated by intervals in the hundreds of picoseconds range.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple THz pulse generation with variable energy ratio and delay

et al. 2015

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Two methods for multiple high energetic THz pulse generation by two-color filamentation in air with controllable energy ratio and delay ranging from one to hundreds of ps were investigated. In the first method the laser pulse is split into two inside the optical stretcher of a CPA laser system, the resulting consecutive filaments occur in the same region and allows the study of the influence of the first plasma filament on the THz emission of the delayed filament. Based on a polarization sensitive thin film beam splitter placed in front of a 45° mirror, the second method produces multiple parallel consecutive filaments. Above a certain total pump level the THz energy delivered by multiple pulses exceeds the value given by a single filament for the same pump energy, thereby overcoming the THz emission saturation of the single filament.

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Quarter-cycle engineering of terahertz field waveforms

Cited by 6 publications

References 28 publications

Terahertz waveform synthesis from integrated lithium niobate circuits

Terahertz waveform synthesis from integrated lithium niobate circuits

Sub-half-cycle field transients from shock-wave-assisted soliton self-compression

Multiple THz pulse generation with variable energy ratio and delay

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