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An active bidirectionally controlled terahertz interference fringe shift in a dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)-doped poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(4-styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) film structure was investigated. An interference phenomenon that occurred as a result of wavefront segmentation in a THz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) system was observed. This THz interference fringe spectrum can be modulated bidirectionally through application of a bias voltage and laser irradiation in terms of its both THz amplitude and interference fringe peaks. The refractive index of the film has an effect on the frequency domain and causes both optical path enhancement and a change in the interference period. THz interference fringes with an electrically induced blueshift and with a photo-induced redshift were acquired.

We investigate terahertz (THz) read-only multi-order nonvolatile rewritable photo-memory based on indium oxide (In2O3) nanoparticles. Optical excitation of an In2O3/quartz sample increases its conductivity, which attenuates its THz transmission. When the optical excitation is terminated, the modulated THz transmission can recover back to its original value in air. However, the THz transmission shows no obvious change over a long-term when In2O3/quartz is encapsulated in an inert gas (nitrogen). Multi-order nonvolatile digital information storage is obtained at different light intensities, and the photo-memory can be rewritten after thermal annealing. Different THz transmissions are used as coded signal units, which are programmed to store information. These results show that THz read-only multi-level nonvolatile rewritable photo-memory can be realized.

We investigate a high-efficiency broadband terahertz wave modulator with structures made from the conjugated polymer [2-methoxy-5-(2′-ethylhexyloxy)-1, 4-phenylennevinylene], graphene, and Si, irradiated with an external excitation laser. We demonstrate a strategy that can alleviate the tradeoff between the requirements of modulation depth and modulation speed in polymer/silicon terahertz wave modulators. Using terahertz time-domain and continuous-wave systems, we measured both the terahertz transmission modulation properties and the time responses of the modulator structures. The conjugated polymer/graphene/silicon structure achieved a high modulation factor of 93% for transmission as well as improved the modulation speed of the devices based on polymer/silicon. The high modulation efficiency of the polymer/graphene/silicon structure was induced by the enhancement in carrier density and the extremely high carrier mobility of graphene, respectively.

Terahertz time–domain spectral techniques are applied to the characterization of a He discharge plasma. Electro-optically sampling of the electric field of a quasi-unipolar terahertz pulse transmitted through the plasma has allowed both the real and imaginary parts of the plasma permittivity to be simultaneously measured over a large spectral range. The plasma density and the collisional frequency are determined within a 30 ps duration measurement window. An anomalously high collisional frequency has been measured.

An active all-optical high-efficiency broadband terahertz device based on an organometal halide perovskite (CH3NH3PbI3, MAPbI3)/inorganic (Si) structure is investigated. Spectrally broadband modulation of the THz transmission is obtained in the frequency range from 0.2 to 2.6 THz, and a modulation depth of nearly 100% can be achieved with a low-level photoexcitation power (∼0.4 W/cm2). Both THz transmission and reflection were suppressed in the MAPbI3/Si structure by an external continuous-wave (CW) laser. Enhancement of the charge carrier density at the MAPbI3/Si interface is crucial for photo-induced absorption. The results show that the proposed high-efficiency broadband optically controlled terahertz device based on the MAPbI3/Si structure has been realized.

We report a high efficiency, broadband terahertz (THz) modulator following a study of phthalocyanine-compound organic films irradiated with an external excitation laser. Both transmission and reflection modulations of each organic/silicon bilayers were measured using THz time-domain and continuous-wave systems. For very low intensities, the experimental results show that AlClPc/Si can achieve a high modulation factor for transmission and reflection, indicating that AlClPc/Si has a superior modulation efficiency compared with the other films (CuPc and SnCl2Pc). In contrast, the strong attenuation of the transmitted and reflected THz waves revealed that a nonlinear absorption process takes place at the organic/silicon interface.

We report the improvement of the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) performance in the optically pumped symmetric thin film waveguide glass/indium-tin oxide (ITO)/SiO2/poly[2-methoxy-5-(2′-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene]/SiO2/Al or Ag by optimizing the thickness of SiO2 and replacing the Al electrode with Ag, where SiO2 acted as a spacer layer to prevent the ASE at 620 nm from being destructed. The results show that the SiO2/Ag cladding reduced the ASE threshold to 4 μJ/pulse compared with the SiO2/Al cladding, owing to the higher work function and reflection rate as well as lower absorption loss of the Ag electrode. No photoluminescence at 580 nm being observed makes it possible for an electric field to only modulate the ASE at 620 nm in the device with the SiO2/Ag cladding. The electric-field quenching of the ASE has been observed, which increases with the electric field. The field dependence of ASE can be attributed to field-induced dissociation of photogenerated excitons in the polymer waveguides.

The terahertz spectrum of ketamine hydrochloride at room temperature, in the range of 0.2–2.6THz, has been measured by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (TDS). Full-geometry optimizations and frequency calculations using the density functional theory (DFT) are also applied to predict the absorption spectra of ketamine hydrochloride and 3, 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). The results of the simulation show qualitative agreement with the experimental data especially for MDMA, and the observed spectra features are assigned based on the DFT calculation. The results suggest that use of the terahertz TDS technique can be an effective method for the detection and inspection of illicit drugs.

The authors report on the dramatic effect of sample size on the plastic deformation capability of a Ti-based bulk metallic glass. Compared with the larger one, the smaller size glassy alloy with the same chemical composition exhibits significantly enhanced plasticity, suggesting a “smaller is softer” trend of metallic glasses. The phenomenon is attributed to the fact that the smaller size alloy, which experienced a faster cooling rate during solidification, contains a larger amount of heats of relaxation and crystallization, favoring the preferential nucleation of shear bands and thus allowing enhanced plasticity upon compressive loading.

We demonstrated an advanced terahertz imaging technique for detection and identification of illicit drugs by introducing the component spatial pattern analysis. As an explanation, the characteristic fingerprint spectra and refractive index of ketamine were first measured with terahertz time-domain spectroscopy both in the air and nitrogen. The results obtained in the ambient air indicated that some absorption peaks are not obvious or probably not dependable. It is necessary and important to present a more practical technique for the detection. The spatial distributions of several illicit drugs [3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, methylenedioxyamphetamine, heroin, acetylcodeine, morphine, and ketamine], widely consumed in the world, were obtained from terahertz images using absorption spectra previously measured in the range from 0.2to2.6THz in the ambient air. The different kinds of pure illicit drugs hidden in mail envelopes were inspected and identified. It could be an effective method in the field of s...