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Photoconductive antenna as local oscillator in terahertz frequency measurement: heterodyne efficiency and bias effect

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Abstract

In a photoconductive antenna (PCA), femtosecond-laser-excited carriers will form a broadband terahertz photon-carrier (PC) comb, and the terahertz PC comb can be used as a multi-frequency local oscillator to carry out heterodyne detection of continuous terahertz sources with high frequency accuracy. In this paper, the heterodyne efficiency and the bias effects of a PCA terahertz PC comb are investigated. The results show that the pair beat signals (with the beat frequencies lower than the repetition frequency of femtosecond laser) of a continuous terahertz source and the two adjacent comb teeth do not decrease with the increase of beat frequency. Applying a bias voltage to the PCA can effectively enhance the terahertz emission efficiency. However, such a bias voltage has no positive effects on the heterodyne detection responsivity because the heterodyne detection is intrinsically based on the terahertz rectification effect that is proportional to the photo-excited electrons. In addition, by using a reference terahertz source with high frequency stability, it is possible to measure the fluctuation and the drift of the repetition frequency of femtosecond lasers with higher accuracy. The results are helpful for improving the performance of terahertz frequency measurement system based on PCA PC combs.

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Notes

  1. https://www.keysight.comN5242-90007.pdf. The relative frequency variations are ± 0.1 ppm/year and 0.1 ppm with temperature range from − 10 to 70 °C. The temperature variation is about 0.3 °C during the measurements, and the evaluated frequency variation is about 4.0 × 10−10. The frequency variation with time is much smaller than that with temperature, which is ignored in our experiments.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like thank Dr. Qing Sun at National Institute of Metrology, China, for helpful discussion. This work is partly supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFA0701005, 2016YFC1202505), the Major National Development Project of Scientific Instrument and Equipment (2017YFF0106300, 2016YFF0100503), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (61731020, 61722111), the Young Yangtse Rive Scholar, and the Project of the Shanghai Science and Technology Committee (Grant No. 15DZ0500100).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Modern Optical Systems, Terahertz Technology Innovation Research Institute, and Engineering Research Center of Optical Instrument and System, Ministry of Education, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, 516 Jungong Road, Shanghai, 200093, China

    Xuguang Guo, Tianjiao Shu, Guanjun You, Li Ding & Yiming Zhu

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  1. Xuguang Guo
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  2. Tianjiao Shu
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  3. Guanjun You
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  4. Li Ding
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  5. Yiming Zhu
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Correspondence to Xuguang Guo.

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Guo, X., Shu, T., You, G. et al. Photoconductive antenna as local oscillator in terahertz frequency measurement: heterodyne efficiency and bias effect. Opt Quant Electron 50, 327 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-018-1577-y

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