ZnTe crystal for Terahertz THz Polaritonics

ZnTe crystal for THz Polaritonics

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Nonlinear THz spectroscopy requires broad bandwidth/tunable narrow band, and high electric field strengths. We generate single- and multi-cycle THz pulses using optical rectification in LiNbO3 crystals via noncollinear phase matching with tilted pulse front excitation from a Ti:Sapphire amplifier system. THz pulses are characterized by electro-optic (EO) sampling in EO crystals such ZnTe. The single-cycle THz pulses we generated typically have electric field strengths exceeding 100kV/cm and spectra ranging through 0.1-3 THz. We also developed the chirp and delay method to generate multiple-cycle THz pulses with flexible tunability and high field strength. The THz electric fields can be further enhanced by an order of magnitude using metamaterial structures called split-ring resonators. These generation methods open up new possibilities of observation of nonlinear collective materials responses.