Continous Wave Terahertz Source

The electromagnetic spectrum in the band between 100 GHz and 20 THz is the terahertz regime, which lies between the microwave and infrared spectral regions. In the past the terahertz regime was too high for affordable devices, dueto the technologicallimits in reducing the size of components as frequency increases, so researchers have applied photonic techniques to generate radiation in this regime.We propose to use multiple layer semiconductor photonic band gap structures (PBG) to efficiently generate THz radiation via frequency down conversion by the nonlinear mixing process of two nearly degenerate laser beams. By tuning the two input frequenciesclose the band edge resonance frequencies the two field are significantly enhanced. We expect a significant enhanced THz conversion efficiency. The success of the project will give the ability to generate THz radiation with low power compact devices,which then can be utilized for many practical commercial applications.