Guided terahertz technology and systems

在过去的五年里，我们的研究计划以太赫兹（THz）技术的进步为目标。这项工作通过几项主要赠款和与工业界的伙伴关系得到了促进，从而产生了大量的专业知识和众多合作。通过这项新的发现基金申请，我们寻求在几个有前途的新方向上创造新技术，这些方向已经在我们之前的活动中确定。这项工作以制导太赫兹技术和系统为中心，包括三个主要领域：太赫兹源和探测器，太赫兹波导技术和太赫兹系统集成。一个主要目标是开发组件和系统，其中太赫兹波完全限制在波导结构中，而不是像今天系统中典型的那样以自由空间光束辐射。预计这项工作将产生基于太赫兹的工具和仪器，与目前的自由空间太赫兹技术相比，这些工具和仪器将提供更高的动态范围、更低的成本和更广泛的用途。***我们最近对源和探测器的工作是出于更高的发射功率和更好的接收器灵敏度的要求，并且希望使用1550 nm附近的光泵波长，其中为电信开发的激光器和组件远低于通常使用的短波长的激光器和组件。新提出的研究重点是利用具有纳米级等离子体电极结构的光导体器件来提高效率和砷化镓和其他材料的中带隙吸收，从而将操作转移到1550 nm。这些方法在降低成本的同时提供至少10倍的输出功率或接收器灵敏度增加。***我们最近在太赫兹应用的低损耗波导领域做出了重大贡献，展示了实用的槽线结构。未来工作的目标是将这些低损耗波导整合到太赫兹系统中，并改善与源和检测器的耦合，以使系统更高效。***太赫兹系统的工作目标是直接激发来自光导体芯片的低损耗波导，以使太赫兹系统具有更高的效用和动态范围。其他新颖的系统概念将被开发。特别令人感兴趣的是一种新型光谱仪系统，它使用相干性来取代传统的时域或频域系统，具有相当大的降低成本的潜力。太赫兹仪器在各种工业和科学应用中变得重要，因为辐射是非电离的（安全的），并通过有趣的材料提供独特的传播特性。目前应用于工业检测、药理学和成像。通过实现该项目的目标，将使这些领域以及信息和通信行业的未来应用成为可能。

Our research program over the past five years has targeted the advancement of terahertz (THz) technology. This work has been facilitated through several major grants and partnerships with industry leading to considerable expertise and numerous collaborations. With this new Discovery Grant application, we seek to create new technology in several promising new directions that have been identified in our prior activities. This work is centered on Guided Terahertz Technology and Systems and comprises three main areas: THz sources and detectors, THz waveguide technology and THz system integration. A major objective is to develop components and systems in which THz waves are entirely confined within waveguide structures, rather than radiating as free-space beams as is typically done in today's systems. It is anticipated that this work will result in terahertz-based tools and instruments that will offer higher dynamic range, lower cost, and more widespread utility than today's free-space terahertz technology.***Our recent work with sources and detectors was motivated by the requirements of higher transmitted power and better receiver sensitivity, and by the desire to work with optical pump wavelengths near 1550 nm where lasers and components developed for telecommunications are far less expensive than those commonly used shorter wavelengths. Newly proposed research focuses on the use of photoconductor devices with nano-scale plasmonic electrode structures to improve efficiency and mid-band-gap absorption in Gallium Arsenide and other materials to shift operation to 1550 nm. These approaches offer at least a factor of 10 increase in output power or receiver sensitivity while reducing cost. ***We have recently made substantial contributions in the area of low-loss waveguides for terahertz applications, demonstrating practical slot-line structures. An objective for future work is to incorporate these low-loss waveguides into THz systems and improve the coupling to sources and detectors to make more efficient systems.***Work in THz systems targets the direct excitation of low-loss waveguides from photoconductor chips to enable terahertz systems with increased utility and dynamic range. Other novel systems concepts will be developed. Of particular interest is a novel spectrometer system that uses coherence to replace conventional time- or frequency-domain systems, with considerable potential reduction in cost.***THz instruments have become important in a variety of industrial and scientific applications, as the radiation is non-ionizing (safe) and offers unique propagation characteristics through interesting materials. Present applications are found in industrial inspection, pharmacology, and imaging. Future applications in these areas and information and communications industries will be enabled through realization of the goals of this project.