Terahertz Spectral Properties of PEO-Based Anti-Adhesion Films Cross-Linked by Electron Beam Irradiation.

We investigated the spectral property changes in anti-adhesion films, which were cross-linked and surface-modified through electron beam irradiation, using terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS). Polyethylene oxide (PEO), which is a biocompatible and biodegradable polymer, was the main component of these anti-adhesion films being manufactured for testing. The terahertz characteristics of the films were affected by the porosity generated during the freeze-drying and compression processes of sample preparation, and this was confirmed using optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging. An anti-adhesion polymer film made without porosity was measured by using the THz-TDS method, and it was confirmed that the refractive index and absorption coefficient were dependent on the crosslinking state. To our knowledge, this is the first experiment on the feasibility of monitoring cross-linking states using terahertz waves. The THz-TDS method has potential as a useful nondestructive technique for polymer inspection and analysis.

Broadband terahertz guided-mode resonance filter using cyclic olefin copolymer.

We propose an all-dielectric single-layer guided-mode resonance filter (GMRF) operating in the high-frequency terahertz (THz) region. For the fabrication of thin gratings to achieve strong resonance in the high-frequency region, the refractive index and absorption must be small, while the tensile strength must be high. Cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) films have a lower refractive index and absorption than polyethylene terephthalate (PET) films and a higher tensile yield strength than polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) films. Therefore, the COC film was found suitable to fabricate a GMRF operating in the high-frequency THz region. We fabricated COC-based single-layer GMRFs with a thickness of 50 µm and grating periods of 500, 400, 300, 200, and 100 µm; the resonance frequencies of the TE0,1 mode were 0.576, 0.712, 0.939, 1.329, and 2.759 THz, respectively. A shorter grating period caused a greater shift of the resonance to a higher frequency. In particular, the COC film enabled the fabrication of a 100-µm grating period with a ridge width of 32 µm and length of 2 mm, enabling the GMRF to operate up to 2.759 THz, which is very high frequency compared to the previous highest frequency of 0.7 THz. These results were in good agreement with a simulation using rigorous coupled-wave analysis.

Polarization-independent all-dielectric guided-mode resonance filter according to binary grating and slab waveguide dimensions.

All-dielectric binary gratings, with and without slab waveguides, are designed to generate polarization-independent guided-mode resonance filters (GMRFs) operating in the THz frequency region using the rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA) method. The filling factor and thickness of the grating were adjusted to have equal resonance frequencies of transverse electric (TE)- and transverse magnetic (TM)-polarized THz beams. The single polarization-independent resonance for a binary grating without a slab waveguide was obtained at 0.459 THz with full width at half maximum (FWHM) values of 8.3 and 8.5 GHz for the TE and TM modes, respectively. Moreover, double-layered polarization-independent resonances for binary gratings with slab waveguides were obtained at 0.369 and 0.442 THz with very high Q-factors of up to 284. This is the first study to propose a polarization-independent GMRF with two resonant frequencies.

Real-time ultrafast oscilloscope with a relativistic electron bunch train.

The deflection of charged particles is an intuitive way to visualize an electromagnetic oscillation of coherent light. Here, we present a real-time ultrafast oscilloscope for time-frozen visualization of a terahertz (THz) optical wave by probing light-driven motion of relativistic electrons. We found the unique condition of subwavelength metal slit waveguide for preserving the distortion-free optical waveform during its propagation. Momentary stamping of the wave, transversely travelling inside a metal slit, on an ultrashort wide electron bunch enables the single-shot recording of an ultrafast optical waveform. As a proof-of-concept experiment, we successfully demonstrated to capture the entire field oscillation of a THz pulse with a sampling rate of 75.7 TS/s. Owing to the use of transversely-wide and longitudinally-short electron bunch and transversely travelling wave, the proposed "single-shot oscilloscope" will open up new avenue for developing the real-time petahertz (PHz) metrology.

THz guided-mode resonance notch filter with variable filtering strength.

In this paper, we propose a terahertz (THz) guided-mode resonance (GMR) notch filter made of a monolithic polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film, which has a monolayer grating structure. The proposed configuration shows both polarization-dependent and polarization-independent notch filter characteristics for the incident THz wave depending on the rotation angle of the second grating film. When the rotation angle is 0°, the filtering strength (transmittance) at resonance frequency changes from 0.4 (0.996) to 99.0% (0.010) according to the incident polarization. The transmittance continuously decreases with increasing rotation angle until 90°. When the rotation angle is 90°, the transmittance converges to 0.065 (± 0.015) independent of the incident wave polarization. When the incident polarization angle ranges from 90° to 180°, paradoxically, the transmittance through the two GMR grating films is greater than the transmittance through only the first GMR grating film due to the enhancement of the vertical component of the THz wave. These results agree well with a calculation using a polar coordinate system.

Method for developing a sub-10 fs ultrafast electron diffraction technology.

The experimental observation of femtosecond dynamics in atoms and molecules by stroboscopic technologies utilizing x ray or electron flashes has attracted much attention and has rapidly developed. We propose a feasible ultrafast electron diffraction (UED) technology with high brightness and a sub-10 fs temporal resolution. We previously demonstrated a UED system with an overall temporal resolution of 31 fs by using an RF photoelectron gun and a 90° achromatic bending structure. This UED structure enabled a bunch duration of 25 fs and a low timing jitter of less than 10 fs while maintaining a high bunch charge of 0.6 pC. In this paper, we demonstrate a simple way to further compress the electron bunch duration to sub-10 fs based on installing an energy filter in the dispersion section of the achromatic bend. The energy filter removes the electrons belonging to nonlinear parts of the phase space. Through numerical simulations, we demonstrate that the electron bunches can be compressed, at the sample position, to a 6.2 fs (rms) duration for a 100 fC charge. This result suggests that the energy filtering approach is more viable and effective than complicated beam-shaping techniques that commonly handle the nonlinear distribution of the electron beam. Furthermore, a gas-filled hollow core fiber compressor and a Ti:sapphire amplifier are used to implement pump laser pulses of less than 5 fs (rms). Thus, we could present the full simulation results of a sub-10 fs UED, and we believe that it will be one of the technical prototypes to challenge the sub-fs time resolution.

Enhancement of THz resonance using a multilayer slab waveguide for a guided-mode resonance filter.

We propose a multilayer slab waveguide (SWG) to enhance the resonance of the transmittance with a guided-mode resonance (GMR) filter. The resonance characteristics of the GMR filter were studied in three types according to the method of attaching the grating film to a SWG, which consists of 25 µm thick polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film layers separated by 25 µm air layers. The resonance depth with the multilayer SWG was improved over that of the monolayer SWG because the refractive index and absorption of the multilayer SWG were reduced. However, because resonance with a high Q-factor in the monolayer SWG has a large attenuation loss due to material absorption, the resonance enhancement was insufficient even for the multilayer SWG. We were able to make the resonance depth up to 5.2 times larger than the monolayer SWG in the TE1,1 mode using a five-layer SWG. We verified the enhancements with the multilayer SWG using a finite-difference frequency-domain (FDFD) simulation.

Tunable terahertz guided-mode resonance filter with a variable grating period.

A variable grating period made of quartz has been applied to fabricate a tunable guided mode resonance (TGMR) filter with transverse-electric (TE) and -magnetic (TM) modes in the terahertz (THz) region. We prepared three TGMR filters with grating periods of 5.0, 3.3, and 1.7 µm/mm over the length of the filter. For the 5.0 µm/mm, the resolution of resonance frequency shift of the TE0,1, TE1.1, and TM0,1 was 3.6, 4.0, and 3.4 GHz/mm, respectively. With a metal slit spacing of 2 mm located in front of the TGMR filter, the movable range of the TGMR was 24 mm, and the resonance frequency could be shifted up to 87, 96, and 82 GHz, where the center frequencies of each resonance were 0.402, 0.579, and 0.460 THz, for the TE0,1, TE1.1, and TM0,1, respectively. Furthermore, because the TGMR and guided mode resonance (GMR) filters are placed independently in the THz beam path, both tunable and fixed resonances can be obtained at the same time in the spectrum.

Transmission characteristics of all-dielectric guided-mode resonance filter in the THz region.

In this study we report the first on the terahertz (THz) transmission characteristics of a guided-mode resonance (GMR) filter made of all-dielectric material. Two strong transverse electric (TE) resonance modes, TE0,1 and TE1,1, and one strong transverse magnetic (TM) resonance mode, TM0,1, were detected. The measured resonances can be explained by diffraction from the grating surface of the GMR filter, and by guiding along the inside of the filter (slab waveguide). Because two identical GMR filters were employed to overcome limited grating numbers, the measured Q-factors of the TM0,1, TE1,1, and TM0,1 modes were as high as 62.9, 71.0, and 74.4 respectively. Also, we obtained polarization efficiencies of up to 96.9, 96.3, and 92.9% for the TM0,1, TM1,1, and TM0,1 modes, respectively, when the GMR filter was rotated to 90°. By increasing the incident THz beam angle, one TE resonance can be divided into two TE resonances, and the resonant frequency can be adjusted like a THz tunable resonance filter. Furthermore, when the GMR filters were inserted between Teflon plates, only the TM1,1 mode was perfectly removed. The designed GMR filter has a high Q-factor, tunable filter, good polarizer, and good modulator characteristics. These experimental results were in good agreement with simulation results.

Dielectric film sensing with TE mode of terahertz guided-mode resonance.

Guided-mode resonance (GMR) filters were implemented by combining a monolayer grating made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and a slab waveguide (dielectric film) made of quartz, PET, and Teflon. The terahertz (THz) GMRs were measured and simulated for films with thickness change from 0 to 500 µm. As the thickness increased, the transverse-electric (TE) mode such as TE0,1, TE1,1, TE2,1, and TE3,1 appeared sequentially. Because the magnitude and frequency of the GMRs depend on the films' absorption and thickness, we applied GMRs in order to sense the film's thickness of the film. When the GMR filter was measured, resonance depth and frequency changes according to the film thickness were much more sensitive than they were when only the film was measured using THz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS).

Terahertz otoscope and potential for diagnosing otitis media.

We designed and fabricated a novel terahertz (THz) otoscope to help physicians to diagnose otitis media (OM) with both THz diagnostics and conventional optical diagnostics. We verified the potential of this tool for diagnosing OM using mouse skin tissue and a human tympanic membrane samples prior to clinical application.

Thin layer terahertz sensing using two-channel parallel-plate waveguides.

We report on the highly sensitive terahertz measurement of a thin, dielectric layer using two channels formed by inserting a single slit sheet in the parallel-plate waveguides (PPWGs). When a thin layer is applied to coat the upper surface of the channel, the single resonance frequency caused by the two-channel PPWGs is shifted as a result of the layer's properties, including length, thickness, and refractive index. The measured frequency tuning sensitivities (FTS) throughout the 20-mm layer length are 2.41 and -1.95 GHz/mm at the open upper and lower channels, respectively. The experimental results agree with those of theoretical simulations performed using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method.