University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

THz Generation and Enhancement Towards Nonlinear Optical Studies of Quantum Materials

Perry, Andria

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Description

Title
THz Generation and Enhancement Towards Nonlinear Optical Studies of Quantum Materials
Author(s)
Perry, Andria
Contributor(s)
Goddard, Lynford
Issue Date
2021-05
Keyword(s)
  • Quantum Materials
  • High-Field THz
  • Magnetic Switching
  • Floquet Engineering
Abstract
Developing sources of electromagnetic radiation in the terahertz (THz) frequency regime is of current interest for probing and controlling various degrees of freedom in quantum materials on their intrinsic energy scales. The strength of the THz electric field is a key parameter towards dynamic control of quantum materials, but for such studies in the strongly coupled regime, sufficient THz electric field amplitudes (>1 MV/cm) have typically only been achieved in super-radiant linear accelerators or low-gain free-electron lasers. This thesis demonstrates two complimentary approaches towards achieving high amplitude THz fields: the generation of THz pulses through tilted-pulse-front excitation in LiNbO3 and subsequent near-field enhancement of the generated THz pulses via resonant metamaterial structures. Our setup demonstrates a custom scheme for measuring the near-field enhancement of incident THz electric fields resultant from patterned metamaterial structures with micron-scale resolution and provides preliminary results for the characterization of the near-field enhancement in an isolated bow-tie resonator. A new design for hybrid plasmonic resonator-photonic cavity was also explored via finite element simulations towards further enhancement of the THz electric field for multi-cycle THz sources. The work laid out in this thesis provides a proof-of-principle scheme towards demonstrating table-top sources of strong THz radiation for nonlinear optical experiments.
Type of Resource
text
Language
en
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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/110361

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