Generation and detection of terahertz radiation by electro-optical process in GaAs

using 1.56 m fiber laser pulses

Masaya Nagai, Koichiro Tanaka, Hideyuki Ohtake, Toshiaki Bessho, Toshiharu Sugiura, Tomoya Hirosumi, and
Makoto Yoshida

Citation: Applied Physics Letters 85, 3974 (2004); doi: 10.1063/1.1813645

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 APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS VOLUME 85, NUMBER 18 1 NOVEMBER 2004

Generation and detection of terahertz radiation by electro-optical process

in GaAs using 1.56 ␮m fiber laser pulses
Masaya Nagaia) and Koichiro Tanaka
Department of Physics, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
Hideyuki Ohtake, Toshiaki Bessho, Toshiharu Sugiura,
Tomoya Hirosumi, and Makoto Yoshida
Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd., Kojiritsuki, Hitotsugi-cho, Kariya 448-0003, Japan
(Received 5 April 2004; accepted 3 September 2004)
We report the generation and detection of a terahertz wave with a nonresonant electro-optical crystal
using 1.56 ␮m femtosecond laser pulses. Using a 0.5-mm-thick (110)-oriented GaAs wafer for
optical rectification and electro-optical modulation, we detected spectral sensitivity below 3 THz.
We also estimated the availability of GaAs from the viewpoint of an electro-optical coefficient and
phase match condition. © 2004 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.1813645]

Recent advances in the ultrafast-pulse-laser technique termined to be the most suitable EO crystal for THz wave
have spurred the rapid development of the generation and emitter and detection using 0.8 ␮m laser.1,7 However, the
detection of the terahertz (THz) electromagnetic pulse, which optical group index at the wavelength of 1.56 ␮m in ZnTe is
has led to various applications, such as material characteriza- much smaller than the refractive index in the THz region,
tion, time-domain spectroscopy, and imaging.1–3 These tech- resulting in a short coherent length (0.15 mm at 2 THz).
niques are based on a free-space Ti:sapphire laser system We estimated the coherent length using parameters of
with a center wavelength of 0.8 ␮m. Since a compact, inte- various binary zinc-blend semiconductors and found that one
grated, and sensitive sensing system is required for further good candidate among zinc-blend nonlinear crystals is GaAs.
enhancement of the THz application, it is crucial to develop The refractive index below the band-gap energy of 1.43 eV
a THz wave generation and detection technique coupled to is described as
an optical fiber cable. In addition, solid lasers that are com-
pact, stable, and low power are expected to serve as light
2
nopt 2
= A + B␭opt 2
/共␭opt − C2兲, 共2兲
sources for future THz technologies. In particular, the Er- where the parameters are A = 8.950, B = 2.054, and C2
doped fiber laser 共1.56 ␮m兲 is especially attractive from the = 0.390 ␮m2.8 Assuming TO phonon resonance at 8.2 THz,
viewpoint of coupling with advanced and low-cost optical the refractive index in the far-infrared region is expressed by
communication techniques. THz wave generation using a a simple Lorentz oscillator model as
1.56 ␮m laser system has been realized with magnetic-
induced InAs and InSb,4,5 and both the generation and detec- 2
nTHz = ⑀⬁ + f 21共⑀0 − ⑀⬁兲/共f 21 − f 2 − i␥ f 2兲, 共3兲
tion have been developed with the photoconductive antenna
of InGaAs.6 where the parameters are f 1 = 268.7 cm−1, ␥ = 2.4 cm−1, ⑀⬁
A nonresonant electro-optical (EO) process is the sim- = 11.0, and ⑀⬁ − ⑀0 = 2.0.9 Figures 2(a) and 2(b) show the
plest method for both THz generation with optical rectifica- group index of the optical pulse and refractive index in the
tion and detection using EO sampling methods because the THz region calculated from Eqs. (2) and (3). The refractive
optimization of nonlinear crystal is well established even in index is almost constant 共nTHz = 3.61兲 below 3 THz. The dis-
the long wavelength region. In order to obtain the reasonable persion curve of the group index of the optical pulse shows
efficiency for the nonlinear process, long interaction length is that the phase condition is satisfied above 1.35 ␮m. The bold
desirable, which require appropriate consideration of a line in Fig. 1 shows the calculated coherent length at 2 THz
phase-matching condition. In the case of THz wave genera- in GaAs. The phase matching condition is satisfied at
tion and detection, the phase-matching condition is satisfied 1.33 ␮m, resulting in the enhancement of coherent length.
when the phase of the THz wave travels at the group velocity
of the optical pulse.7 The coherent length lc can be expressed
as a function of the optical pulse wavelength ␭opt and THz
wave frequency f by
lc = c/2f兩nTHz − ng兩, 共1兲
where c is the light speed and nTHz is the refractive index in
the THz region. ng = nopt − ␭opt⳵nopt / ⳵␭opt is a group index of
the optical pulse with a refractive index nopt. The dashed bold
line in Fig. 1 shows the coherent length in ZnTe as a function
of optical wavelength. One can see the enhancement of co-
herent length at 0.8 ␮m, indicating that ZnTe has been de-
FIG. 1. Coherent length at 2 THz as a function of optical wavelength
calculated using the parameters of various zinc-blende semiconductors
a)
Electronic mail: [email protected] (Ref. 13).

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0003-6951/2004/85(18)/3974/3/$22.00 3974 © 2004 American Institute of Physics
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 Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 85, No. 18, 1 November 2004 Nagai et al. 3975

FIG. 2. (a) Optical group index and (b) refractive index in the THz region in
GaAs, (c) coherent length at ␭opt = 1.56 ␮m vs THz frequency.

This optical wavelength in GaAs is the longest in binary

zinc-blend semiconductors, as shown in Fig. 1. Even at
1.56 ␮m, the coherent length still retains a large value
共0.7 mm兲. Figure 2(c) shows the coherent length at 1.56 ␮m
as a function of the THz frequency. The coherent length is
1 mm at 1.5 THz and 0.5 mm at 2.5 THz. While the THz FIG. 4. Temporal wave form and power spectrum of THz radiation from
radiation from GaAs under excitation above the band-gap GaAs using 1.56 ␮m laser excitation. Detection is achieved with EO sam-
pling using a GaAs crystal and 1.56 ␮m sampling pulses.
energy has been investigated extensively,10 there are only a
few reports on the nonresonant EO process. Vosseburger et
al. demonstrated EO sampling with GaAs using 0.9 ␮m Ti: Figure 4(a) shows a THz wave form from a GaAs emit-
sapphire laser.11 Cóte et al. evaluated complex EO coeffi- ter detected by an EO crystal of GaAs and 1.56 ␮m sampling
cients from the amplitude of THz electric field generated pulse. The time interval between two minima around 4 ps is
with OR in GaAs using 1.55 and 0.775 ␮m laser.12 In this 0.6 ps, and the peak maximum signal intensity is 兩⌬I / I0兩
letter, we perform the generation and optical detection of a = 2.0⫻ 10−5. A replica of the signal appears at 16 ps, origi-
THz electric wave with GaAs using a 1.56 ␮m femtosecond nating from internal reflections of the THz pulse in the GaAs
fiber laser system, and evaluate net efficiency of EO process crystal. Figure 4(b) shows the power spectrum calculated
in GaAs. from the wave form in Fig. 4(a). Sharp absorption lines be-
Figure 3 shows the sketch of our experimental setup. low 3 THz are due to atmospheric water. The cut-off fre-
The pulses from compact fiber laser (IMRA femtolite, ␭opt quency is about 3 THz. Considering the phase match condi-
= 1.56 ␮m, 50 MHz repetition rate, 100 fs pulse duration, tion shown in Fig. 2(b), we conclude that the coherent length
and 380 mW output power) were split into two components determines this cut-off frequency.
using a beam splitter. One beam is focused on the (110)- In order to estimate the availability of the GaAs crystal,
oriented, 0.5-mm-thick, and nondoped GaAs wafer, which we evaluated net efficiency of EO processes. Maximum net
works as a THz emitter. The input power is 170 mW. The efficiency is r41lc, where r41 is the EO coefficient. One
emitted THz pulse is focused onto the (110)-oriented GaAs simple method for estimation of r41lc is the comparison of
wafer 共0.5 mm兲 for EO detection using two off-axis para- THz wave forms detected with both GaAs and typical EO
bolic mirrors. The sampling beam is also focused onto the crystal of ZnTe. However, the coherent length of ZnTe is so
same spot of the EO crystal through the small hole of a short at 1.56 ␮m that the detected electric wave form is weak
parabolic mirror with the polarization along the 关11̄0兴 direc- and extensively distorted. To avoid this difficulty, we set a
tion, and the birefringence of the sampling beam modulated periodic poled LiNbO3 crystal for frequency doubling of the
by the electric field of THz pulse was measured using a sampling pulse and detected the EO with a 0.78 ␮m sam-
quarter wave plate, a Wolston prism, and two balanced pling pulse, as shown in Fig. 3. Figure 5(a) shows the THz
InGaAs detectors. An optical chopper running at 2.3 kHz
modulated the emitted THz pulses for sensitive detection by
a lock-in-amplifier.

FIG. 5. Temporal wave form of the THz radiation from a GaAs emitter
FIG. 3. Sketch of the experimental setup. WP is a Wolston prism. In the using 1.56 ␮m laser excitation. For EO sampling, we use (a) ZnTe crystal
measurement
This article of the 0.78
is copyrighted ␮m probe,
as indicated in we
the set the crystal
article. Reusefor
of frequency dou-
AIP content withto0.3
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terms and 0.78 ␮m sampling pulses, (b) GaAs Downloaded
at: http://scitation.aip.org/termsconditions. crystal with to IP:
bling and a wave plate at the mark of SH. 0.5 mm thickness and 1.56 ␮m sampling pulses.
163.118.172.206 On: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 16:57:24
 3976 Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 85, No. 18, 1 November 2004 Nagai et al.

wave form from the GaAs crystal detected with a crystals such as InxGa1−xAs, or with fabricating a photonic
0.3-mm-thick ZnTe EO crystal and a 0.78 ␮m sampling crystal structure.
beam. The shape of the electric wave form is similar to that
This work was financially supported by the Ministry of
with GaAs EO detection [as shown in Fig. 5(b)]. The maxi-
Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts, and Telecommu-
mum signal intensity is 兩⌬I / I0兩 = 4.0⫻ 10−5. Considering the
nications, Japan, and by the Grant-in-Aid for the 21st Cen-
signal amplitude and the EO crystal thickness, the ratio of tury COE “Center for Diversity and Universality in Physics”
GaAs ZnTe
the EO coefficient is r41 / r41 = 0.30. According to Ref. 13, from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science,
the EO coefficient is r41 = 1.5 pm/ V in GaAs and 4.8 pm/ V and Technology of Japan. The authors thank Y. Kadoya for
GaAs ZnTe
in ZnTe. The ratio of these EO coefficients r41 / r41 his helpful suggestions and are grateful to H. Akiyama and S.
= 0.31 is almost the same as that estimated from experimen- Saito for their technical support.
tal results, indicating that the coherent length of 0.5 mm in
GaAs is assured at the wavelength of 1.56 ␮m. Therefore the 1
J. Shan, A. Nahata, and T. Heinz, J. Nonlinear Opt. Phys. Mater. 11, 31
ratio of maximum net efficiency at 2 THz is (2002).
2
Z. Jiang and X.-C. Zhang, IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech. 47, 2644
lGaAs
c
GaAs ZnTe ZnTe
r41 / lc r41 = 1.5 on the assumption of no optical (1999).
ZnTe
wavelength dependence of r41 . 3
B. Ferguson and X.-C. Zhang, Nat. Mater. 1, 26 (2002).
4
In summary, we demonstrated the THz wave generation H. Ohtake, Y. Suzuki, N. Sarukura, S. Ono, T. Tsukamoto, A. Nakanishi,
S. Nishizawa, M. L. Stock, M. Yoshida, and H. Endert, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys.,
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H. Takahashi, Y. Suzuki, M. Sakai, S. Ono, N. Sarukura, T. Sugiura, T.
a 0.5-mm-thickness GaAs wafer is below 3 THz and limited Hirosumi, and M. Yoshida, Appl. Phys. Lett. 82, 2005 (2003).
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the group index of an optical pulse using narrow-gap ternary 2004).

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