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Real-Time Determination of Absolute Frequency in Continuous-Wave Terahertz Radiation with a Photocarrier Terahertz Frequency Comb Induced by an Unstabilized Femtosecond Laser

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Abstract

A practical method for the absolute frequency measurement of continuous-wave terahertz (CW-THz) radiation uses a photocarrier terahertz frequency comb (PC-THz comb) because of its ability to realize real-time, precise measurement without the need for cryogenic cooling. However, the requirement for precise stabilization of the repetition frequency (f rep) and/or use of dual femtosecond lasers hinders its practical use. In this article, based on the fact that an equal interval between PC-THz comb modes is always maintained regardless of the fluctuation in f rep, the PC-THz comb induced by an unstabilized laser was used to determine the absolute frequency f THz of CW-THz radiation. Using an f rep-free-running PC-THz comb, the f THz of the frequency-fixed or frequency-fluctuated active frequency multiplier chain CW-THz source was determined at a measurement rate of 10 Hz with a relative accuracy of 8.2 × 10−13 and a relative precision of 8.8 × 10−12 to a rubidium frequency standard. Furthermore, f THz was correctly determined even when fluctuating over a range of 20 GHz. The proposed method enables the use of any commercial femtosecond laser for the absolute frequency measurement of CW-THz radiation.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Collaborative Research Based on Industrial Demand from the Japan Science and Technology Agency, and a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research No. 26246031 from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan. The authors thank Drs. Hideyuki Ohtake and Jun Takayanagi of AISIN SEIKI Co., Ltd., Japan, for use of the IMRA laser.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Technology and Science, Tokushima University, 2-1, Minami-Josanjima, Tokushima, 770-8506, Japan

    Takeo Minamikawa, Kenta Hayashi, Tatsuya Mizuguchi, Yi-Da Hsieh, Dahi Ghareab Abdelsalam, Tetsuo Iwata & Takeshi Yasui

  2. JST, ERATO, MINOSHIMA Intelligent Optical Synthesizer Project, 2-1, Minami-Josanjima, Tokushima, 770-8506, Japan

    Takeo Minamikawa, Yi-Da Hsieh, Dahi Ghareab Abdelsalam, Yasuhiro Mizutani, Hirotsugu Yamamoto, Tetsuo Iwata & Takeshi Yasui

  3. Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, 2-1, Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan

    Yasuhiro Mizutani

  4. Center for Optical Research and Education, Utsunomiya University, 7-1-2, Yoto, Utsunomiya, Tochigi, 321-8585, Japan

    Hirotsugu Yamamoto

Authors
  1. Takeo Minamikawa
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  2. Kenta Hayashi
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  3. Tatsuya Mizuguchi
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  4. Yi-Da Hsieh
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  5. Dahi Ghareab Abdelsalam
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  6. Yasuhiro Mizutani
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  7. Hirotsugu Yamamoto
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  8. Tetsuo Iwata
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  9. Takeshi Yasui
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Correspondence to Takeshi Yasui.

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Minamikawa, T., Hayashi, K., Mizuguchi, T. et al. Real-Time Determination of Absolute Frequency in Continuous-Wave Terahertz Radiation with a Photocarrier Terahertz Frequency Comb Induced by an Unstabilized Femtosecond Laser. J Infrared Milli Terahz Waves 37, 473–485 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10762-015-0237-6

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