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Lens’ Design and Verification Used for Terahertz Beam Collimation

Qiu-Jie Yang†, Jing-Guo Huang, Zhi-ping He, Zhi-Ming Huang and Rong Shu
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Key Laboratory of Space Active Opto-Electronics Technology, Shanghai Institute of

Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Shanghai, 200083, P. R. China
†E-mail: [email protected]

The free space transmission is an important research content in terahertz technology. The
beam collimation is the key to the free space transmission. Nowadays, positive lenses are
widely used in terahertz beam collimation. Compared with visible laser, the wave front of
terahertz beam is neither plane wave nor spherical wave but mixed. From theoretical
derivation, these negative lenses are more appropriate for terahertz beam collimation than
positive lenses. The positive lenses with big F number can improve the energy utilization
ration which are good for the space transmission but do little to improve the beam
collimation. The parameter for negative lens depends on terahertz laser and propagation
distance. Experiments demonstrate that the negative lens with f’ = -101.6mm can
improve the terahertz beam collimation from 6°to 0.1°, while the positive lens with
f’ = 101.6mm at the best position can make beam convergence with an angle of 2°. The
discovery will make a big difference in the free space transmission and terahertz imaging.

Keywords: Terahertz Laser; Beam Collimation; Negative Lens; Divergence Angle.

1. Introduction
Terahertz (THz) is a kind of electromagnetic wave with the frequency between
0.1THz and 10THz. Both optics and electric method can generate

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terahertz radiation, but limited by the device size, the terahertz radiation based
on electric method cannot achieve frequency above 1THz and the device is also
fragile [1][2]. Based on DFG and QCLs, the terahertz radiation can cover
full-wave band in terahertz. So the terahertz emission generated by optics is the
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mainstream direction for terahertz source [3][4]. Limited by the poor efficiency
of DFG, the small effective emission cross section of QCLs [5][6], and also the
high atmospheric absorptivity, to get efficient transmission of THZ waves must
find the best transmission medium [7][8]. A lot of research shows that free space
transmission is more advantage than any other transmission modes such as
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metallic waveguide and so on.

When solving the free space transmission of terahertz wave, many research
institutions use positive lens to improve the divergence of the terahertz beam [9][10].
There is no doubt that positive lens can easily make full use of the terahertz energy,
and which is good for the free space transmission. But positive lens has little effect
in improving terahertz beam collimation. Limited by terahertz source and detector,
this work has not been done by any other people. We find that those negative lenses
are more appropriate for terahertz beam collimation. In this paper, the difference
between terahertz laser and visible laser has been elucidated detailed. Theoretical
derivation shows that the negative lenses are better for terahertz beam collimation,
and the way to get the parameter for negative lens is also included in the paper.
Finally, the theoretical derivation has been certificated by our experiment.
2. Theoretical analysis
The terahertz source based on optic mothed, in essence, is stimulated radiative
transition of the molecule. So the terahertz is a kind of lasers [11]. It should be
described by Gaussian optics as formula (1) and the terahertz wave front is
showed as figure 1.

Fig. 1. Gaussian beam transmission along z-axis. In the figure, is the beam waist, r is the
distance between point (x,y) and z axis, R is the spherical wave radius, and is the spot radius
transmission along z-axis.
r2 kr 2
ψ mn (r, z) = A mn exp( −
2
) exp( − jkz) exp(j φmn ) exp( − j ) (1)
w 2R
In the formula (1), ψ mn (r, z) is the field distribution of mn order mode
along z axis. It’s defined that the laser waist ω0 is at the position z = 0.Amn is
normalized amplitude. r = x 2 + y 2 is the distance between point (x,y) and z
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axis. z is the distance between the wave front and laser waist. The right side of
formula (1) represents Gauss profile, plane wave phase, additional phase and
spherical wave phase, respectively. Each parameter is calculated as follows.

 λz 
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φ mn = (m + n + 1) arctan  (2)
 πω 02 

  λz  2 
ω = ω 1 + 
2 2
2
0  (3)
  πω 0  
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  πω 2  2

R = z 1 +  0   (4)
  λz  

For visible light, such as , with laser waist , it

means , so those formulas can be simplified as follows.

 λz 
φ mn = (m + n + 1) arctan  ≈0 (2 − a)
 πω 02 

  λz  2 
ω = ω 1 + 
2 2
0 2
 ≈ ω 02 (3 − a)
  πω 0  

  πω 2  2 
R = z 1 +  0   ≈ ∞ (4 − a)
  λz  

r2
ψ mn (r, z) = A mn exp( − ) exp( − jkz) exp( − jkz) (1 − a)
w2
It means that visible laser can be seemed as plane wave.
For terahertz bean, such as λ1T = 0.3mm, with laser waist ω0 = 1mm, it
λ
means = 0.3, so these formulas can be simplified as follows.
ωg2
 λz  z
φ mn = (m + n + 1) arctan  2
≈ (m + n + 1) arctan( ) (2 − b)
πω
 0 11

  λz  2    z 2
ω 2 = ω 02 1 +  2
 ≈ ω 02 1 +    (3 − b)
  πω 0     11 

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  πω 2  2
   z 2
R = z 1 +  0   ≈ z 1 +    (4 − b)
  λz     11 
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r2  kr 2 
ψ mn (r, z) = A mn exp( − ) exp( − jkz) exp( − j φmn ) exp  − j 2R  (1 − b)
w2

It means that terahertz bean cannot be seemed as plane wave or spherical

wave which is quite different from visible lasers.
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In order to describe easily, we select m=0 and n=0 which mean that the
laser is fundamental mode. For λ = 500nm and λ = 0.3mm, the relation between
ω, R and transmission distance z is showed in figure 2, respectively. From figure
2(a), we can easily find that the beam waist for visible laser just change a little
along z axis, while terahertz beam waist changes fast along z axis which means
terahertz beam has a big divergence angle about 5.7°which is bad for the free
space transmission. More details, if z < 3mm, the terahertz beam waist change
also a little along z axis meaning its divergence angle no more than 1°. From
figure 2(b), we can easily find that the spherical wave radium for visible laser is
thousands times bigger than its beam waist which is another reason why visible
laser can be seamed as plane wave. But for terahertz beam, the spherical wave
radium is just the same order as its beam waist except the zone z < 3mm. So,
formula 1-b can be rewritten as follows.
ψ mn (r, z)
  r2 
A
 mn exp  − w 2  exp( − j(kz − φ mn)) 0<z≤3


=  r2   kr 2  (1 − c)
A
 mn exp −
 w 2  exp( − j(kz − φ mn)) exp  − j 2R  z>3



Fig. 2. The relation between Gaussian beam waist diameter, spherical wave radius and transmission
distance z.

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In order to achieve far distance transmission, lens must be used for

terahertz beam to improve the beam collimation. From formula (1-c), different
zone along z axis, the beam is quite different. In the zone z < 3mm, the terahertz
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beam can be seemed as plane wave, so a positive lens with big F number can
makes beam converge in a long distance which could be full use of the beam
energy. This has been used in some commercial terahertz source. In the zone z <
3mm, the terahertz beam can’t be seemed as plane wave. From formula (1-c),
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it’s obvious that the plane wave front adds a spherical wave phase. So to get
 kr 2 
plane wave front, we must eliminate the spherical wave phase exp  − j 
 2R 
from the terahertz wave front. In Fourier optics Lens can be used as phase
converter which can be described as formula (5). It means putting a negative
 kr 2 
lens after terahertz beam can remove the spherical wave phase exp  − j 
 2R 
from formula (1-c). In this way, far distance transmission can be achieved. It can
be explained as figure 3.
k 2 2
t1 (x, y) = exp[ − j
(x + y ) (5)
2f
In the formula (5), t1(x,y) s phase converter caused by the lens. f is the
focus length of the lens. k is the wave vector.

Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of wave front converting.

Compared figure 3 and formula (5), we can easily find that if formula (6)
satisfied, we can converge the Gauss wave into plane wave. In order to get the
parameter of the negative lens, we need to calculate the parameters of the Gauss
wave carefully. To get far distance transmission, the spot diameter is the smaller the
better which means the distance between lens and laser waist should be small.
  πω 2  2

f = − R = − z 1 +  0   (6)
λz 
  

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3. Experiment and analyst

3.1. The design and manufacture of the terahertz lens

Lenses are used in so many terahertz systems to improve the beam collimation
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and energy utilization ration. Lens used in terahertz systems are divided into two
categories depending on the material: lens made from high resistivity silicon and
lens made from plastics, such as HDPE, PTFE, and Picairn. In our experiment,
the lens is made from HDPE of which transmissivity curve in terahertz region is
shown in figure 4(a).
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Fig. 4. Transmissivity curve of HDPE and lenses

In our lab, the 1T terahertz emission generated in GaSe is produced by

pumped lasers with wave length 1068.1nm and Nd:YAG laser with wave length
1064nm from DFG. The terahertz beam has a beam waist of 1mm. From
formula (3-b) and (4-b), we can calculate the spot diameter ω = 9.6mmand
spherical radius R = 101.1mm at the distance z = 10mm. From formula (6), the
focus length of the negative lens is 101.1mm. We don’t use aspheric surface in
the design because the wave length is long which is no sensitive to the surface
roughness. The parameter of the negative lens optimized by ZEMAX is listed in
table 1. The manufactured lenses are shown as figure 4(b).

Table 1. The parameter of terahertz lens

Surf type Radius Thickness Glass Semidiameter Conic

OBJ Standard Infinity Infinity -- 0 0
STO Standard -51.832 3 HDPE 10 0
2 Standard Infinity -103.083 -- 10.264 0
IMA Standard Infinity -- -- 0.133 0

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3.2. The measure and analysis of the divergence angle

First, we measure the divergence angle without any lens. The experiment photo is
shown as figure 5(a) and the detector we used in the experiment is bolometer
working at liquid helium condition. We measure the spot diameter at place 1, place
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2 and place 3 respectively. The relation between the signal intensity distribution
and horizontal x at each place is shown in figure 5(b). From the figure, we can
easily calculate the divergence angle of the terahertz source with 6°.
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Fig. 5. Schematic diagram of experiment and results.

Secondly, we measure the divergence angle with a positive lens of which
the focus length is 101.1mm at the place which is the best place for
the lens. The experiment photo is shown as figure 6(a) and the detector we used
in the experiment is bolometer working at liquid helium condition. We measure
the spot diameter at place 1, place 2 and place 3 respectively. The relation
between the signal intensity distribution and horizontal x at each place is shown
in figure 6(b). From the figure, we can easily calculate the divergence angle of
the terahertz beam after the positive lens is 2°. We also find that the positive lens
converts the divergence beam into convergent beam, because after the lens we
can easily find a place where the signal is bigger than any other places.

Fig. 6. Schematic diagram of experiment and results.

Finally, we measure the divergence angle with a negative lens of which the
focus length is 101.1mm at the place z = 10mm which is the best place for the
lens. The experiment photo is shown as figure 7(a) and the detector we used in
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the experiment is bolometer working at liquid helium condition. We measure the

spot diameter at place 1, place 2 and place 3 respectively. The relation between
the signal intensity distribution and horizontal x at each place is shown in figure
7(b). From the figure, we can easily calculate the divergence angle of the
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terahertz beam after the positive lens is 0.1°.

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Fig. 7. Schematic diagram of experiment and results.

From the experiment, we can get some conclusions as follows. Terahertz
beam has a big divergence angle which is bad for the space transmission. The
positive lens with big F number can improve the energy utilization ration which
is good for the space transmission. But the positive lens can just do a little to
improve the beam collimation. The negative lens can easily change the beam
collimation which is important for the space transmission, terahertz imaging and
so on.

4. Conclusion
Compared with visible laser, the wave front of terahertz beam is neither plane
wave nor spherical wave but mixed. Terahertz beam has a big divergence angle
which is bad for the space transmission. The positive lens with big F number can
improve the energy utilization ration which is good for the space transmission.
But the positive lens can just do a little to improve the beam collimation. The
negative lens can easily change the beam collimation which is important for the
space transmission, terahertz imaging and so on.

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ultrawideband short pulses of Thz radiation through
submillimeter-diameter circular waveguides, Opt. Lett., 24, 1431-1433
(1999).

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3. E. Schomburg, N. V. Demarina, and K. F. Renk, Amplification of a

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