Sen-Cheng Zhong

Terahertz pulsed spectroscopy of paraffin-embedded brain glioma

Abstract. The refractive indices, absorption coefficients, and complex dielectric constants of paraffin-embedded brain glioma and normal brain tissues have been measured by a terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) system in the 0.2- to 2.0-THz range. The spectral differences between gliomas and normal brain tissues were obtained. Compared with normal brain tissue, our results indicate that paraffin-embedded brain gliomas have a higher refractive index, absorption coefficient, and dielectric constant. Based on these results, the best THz frequencies for different methods of paraffin-embedded brain glioma imaging, such as intensity imaging, coherent imaging with continuum THz sources, and THz pulsed imaging with short-pulsed THz sources, are analyzed.

Generation of 0.19-mJ THz pulses in LiNbO 3 driven by 800-nm femtosecond laser

We proposed a cylindrical lens telescope tilted pulse front pumping scheme for high energy terahertz pulse generation. The optimum pump laser spectral bandwidth and crystal cooling temperature for OR in LN crystal were researched systematically. Excitated by 800-nm laser, more than 0.19 mJ energy and 0.27% efficiency terahertz pulses generation was demonstrated with the optimum bandwidth pumping and 150 K cooling temperature for the first time.

A high-performance broadband terahertz absorber based on sawtooth-shape doped-silicon

Perfect absorbers with broadband absorption of terahertz (THz) radiation are promising for applications in imaging and detection to enhance the contrast and sensitivity, as well as to provide concealment. Different from previous two-dimensional structures, here we put forward a new type of THz absorber based on sawtooth-shape doped-silicon with near-unit absorption across a broad spectral range. Absorbance over 99% is observed numerically from 1.2 to 3 THz by optimizing the geometric parameters of the sawtooth structure. Our absorbers can operate over a wide range of incident angle and are polarization insensitive. The underlying mechanisms due to the combination of an air-cavity mode and mode-matching resonance on the air-sawtooth interface are analyzed in terms of the field patterns and electromagnetic power loss features.

Identify paraffin-embedded brain glioma using terahertz pulsed spectroscopy

The refractive indices, absorption coefficients and complex dielectric constants spectra of paraffin-embedded brain glioma and normal brain tissues have been measured by a terahertz time domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) system in the range of 0.2 – 2.0 THz. The spectral differences between glioma and normal brain tissues were obtained. Our results indicate that, compared with normal tissue, glioma had higher refractive index, absorption coefficient, and dielectric constant. Based on these results, the suitable frequency components for different methods of glioma imaging (intensity imaging, coherent imaging and terahertz pulsed imaging) are analyzed.

Time-resolved single-shot terahertz time-domain spectroscopy for ultrafast irreversible processes.

Pulsed terahertz spectroscopy is suitable for spectroscopic diagnostics of ultrafast events. However, the study of irreversible or single shot ultrafast events requires ability to record transient properties at multiple time delays, i.e., time resolved at single shot level, which is not available currently. Here by angular multiplexing use of femtosecond laser pulses, we developed and demonstrated a time resolved, transient terahertz time domain spectroscopy technique, where burst mode THz pulses were generated and then detected in a single shot measurement manner. The burst mode THz pulses contain 2 sub-THz pulses, and the time gap between them is adjustable up to 1 ns with picosecond accuracy, thus it can be used to probe the single shot event at two different time delays. The system can detect the sub-THz pulses at 0.1 THz-2.5 THz range with signal to noise ratio (SNR) of ∼400 and spectrum resolution of 0.05 THz. System design was described here, and optimizations of single shot measurement of THz pulses were discussed in detail. Methods to improve SNR were also discussed in detail. A system application was demonstrated where pulsed THz signals at different time delays of the ultrafast process were successfully acquired within single shot measurement. This time resolved transient terahertz time domain spectroscopy technique provides a new diagnostic tool for irreversible or single shot ultrafast events where dynamic information can be extracted at terahertz range within one-shot experiment.

Dual-mode tunable terahertz generation in lithium niobate driven by spatially shaped femtosecond laser

A new approach for dual-mode (namely broadband mode and narrowband mode) THz pulses generation in a single lithium niobate (LN) crystal excited by spatially shaped tilted-pulse-front femtosecond (fs) laser pulse was proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The two THz emission modes are generated simultaneously while spatially separated. Both central frequency and bandwidth of narrowband THz emission is controllable by in-situ tuning the spatial modulation period and beam size of the fs-laser, and the broadband (0.1-1.5 THz) THz emission keeps almost unchanged while tuning the narrowband emission. Further optimization achieves the narrowband THz emission with energy spectral density up to

High-peak-power terahertz sources pumped by high power laser and single-shot measurement of terahertz temporal waveform

0.27 \ \mu \mathrm{J}/\mathrm{THz}

Polarization dependent terahertz generation efficiency by optical rectification in LiNbO3

and with bandwidth narrowly down to 23 GHz.

Study on silicon nanostructure based solar cell by ultrafast terahertz spectroscopy

Optical rectification of laser pulses in LiNbO3 crystal pumped by high power laser is one of the most powerful way to generate this high-peak-power terahertz pulses. It enhances the laser-terahertz transform efficiency by tilted-pulse-front pumping(TPFP) to fulfill phase match in the LiNbO3 crystal. However, comprehensive theoretical analysis is still lack. In this work, a detailed theoretical model to investigate the THz generation efficiency by using nonlinear susceptibility tensor of LiNbO3 crystal was presented. Based on femtosecond laser system, a setup to generate high-peak-power terahertz pulses and a time domain spectroscopy system are established. The property of generated terahertz pulses was analyzed by using terahertz camera and THz time domain system. We also realized the single-shot measurement of terahertz temporal waveform by using this terahertz source.

The efficiency and polarization of the terahertz pulses generated by tilted-pulse-front pumping scheme

Optical rectification of laser pulses in LiNbO3 by tilted-pulse-front pumping (TPFP) is a powerful way to generate terahertz(THz) pulses. However, comprehensive theoretical analysis is still lack. In this work, we first established and presented a detailed theoretical model for TPFP scheme, which then was used to analyze the pump beam polarization dependent terahertz pulses generated by this scheme. The results indicate that one can change the polarization state of the terahertz pulse by changing the pump beam polarization. A scheme using tilted-pulse-front pumping was also set up, and the generated terahertz pulses have maximal conversion efficiency when the pump beam electric field vector is parallel to the crystal axis, which is consistent with theoretical model.