Hannover 2016 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 45: Ultrashort Laser Pulses I
Q 45.5: Talk
Thursday, March 3, 2016, 12:00–12:15, a310
Efficient narrowband terahertz generation in periodically poled lithium niobate — •Frederike Ahr1,2, Sergio Carbajo1,2,3, Jan Schulte1,2, Xiaojun Wu1,3, Koustuban Ravi1,4, Damian Schimpf1,3, and Franz X. Kärtner1,2,3,4 — 1Center for Free Electron Laser Science, and Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron, Notkestraße 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany — 2Department of Physics, University of Hamburg, Luruper Chausee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany — 3The Hamburg Center of Ultrafast Imaging, Luruper Chausee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany — 4Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
We report a record optical-to-terahertz energy conversion efficiency for narrowband terahertz (THz) radiation in the frequency range of 0.1 to 1 THz via optical rectification in periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN). The efficiency was optimized by cryogenically cooling the PPLN crystals to reduce THz absorption and by spectrally filtering the pulses from a Ti:sapphire regenerative amplifier. Tuning of the THz frequency was verified by measuring via electro-optic sampling the temporal waveforms and the corresponding spectra of THz pulses generated by PPLNs of different poling periodes and corresponding phase-matching conditions. We achieved an energy conversion efficiency of 0.12%, which is two orders of magnitude higher than preceding studies with similar geometries, at a frequency of 560 GHz in a cryogenically cooled PPLN with a domain period of 212µm.