Abstract
The design, fabrication, and validation of a thin-film lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) electro-optic (EO) time-domain terahertz (THz) wave detector is reported. LNOI offers unprecedented properties for the EO detection of freely propagating THz wave radiation pulses and transient electric fields because of the large EO coefficient of the material, engineering of the velocity matching of the THz wave and optical wave, and much reduced detector size. The proof-of-concept device is realized using thin-film lithium niobate optical waveguides forming a Mach–Zehnder interferometer with interferometer arms electrically poled in opposite directions. THz waves are coupled effectively to the fully dielectric device from free space without using antennas or plasmonics. The detection of THz waves with frequencies up to 800 GHz is successfully demonstrated. The detector allows for the detection of THz frequency electric fields up to 4.6 MV/m. The observed frequency response of the device agrees well with theoretical predictions.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 4822 |
| Journal | Scientific Reports |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 2024 |
Funding
J. M. acknowledges financial support through an US Department of Energy Office of Science SULI internship. G. H. and J. M. thank Nick Mathews for support in preliminary stages of the experimental setup. This work has been supported by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-C0OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. This research used resources at the Spallation Neutron Source, a DOE Office of Science User Facility operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The U.S. Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U.S. Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this paper or allow others to do so for the U.S. Government purposes. J. M. acknowledges financial support through an US Department of Energy Office of Science SULI internship. G. H. and J. M. thank Nick Mathews for support in preliminary stages of the experimental setup. This work has been supported by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-C0OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. This research used resources at the Spallation Neutron Source, a DOE Office of Science User Facility operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The U.S. Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U.S. Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this paper or allow others to do so for the U.S. Government purposes.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| U.S. Government | |
| U.S. Department of Energy | |
| Office of Science | |
| Oak Ridge National Laboratory | |
| UT-Battelle | DE-AC05-C0OR22725 |