EAGER: Coherent Terahertz Generation in Silica Micro-Resonators

EAGER：二氧化硅微谐振器中产生相干太赫兹

• 批准号: 1039399
• 负责人: Mona Jarrahi
• 金额: $ 14.27万
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-10-01 至 2012-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1039399&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Coherent; Terahertz; Generation; Silica

Proposal summaryWe propose to design, fabricate, and experimentally demonstrate a new type of THz emitter by exploiting, for the first time, whispering-gallery enhancement in a THz parametric oscillator. The extremely high resonance quality factors offered by these micron-scale whispering-gallery mode resonators offer unprecedented cavity enhancement factors not only for the optical pump, but also for the generated THz wave. Our preliminary calculations show that such enhancement can transform THz sources to allow a coherent (10 GHz bandwidth), linearly polarized, frequency tunable THz emission with 100 times higher power efficiencies compared to the state-of-the art.Intellectual merit:The proposed work presents an entirely new perspective on the potential use of whispering-galley mode resonators to radically improve the performance of existing terahertz sources. Whispering-gallery enhancement allowed us in the past to be the first to experimentally demonstrate (1) Third-harmonic in a micro-resonator, (2) Brillouin scattering in a micro-resonator, and (3) mechanical vibration by radiation pressure. Using this experience we will explore the use of similar whispering-gallery enhancement to benefit optical-to-THz conversion efficiency in a silica micro-resonator. Theoretical investigations provide a deep understanding of fundamental conversion efficiency limitations of whispering-gallery enhanced THz parametric oscillators. They also offer a valuable insight to physical requirements for THz whispering gallery enhancement. Additionally, the experimental efforts provide an intuitive insight to practical constraints and solutions to develop proper silica micro-resonator THz emitters.Broader Impact:The outcome of the proposed research will enable high-performance medical imaging, biological sensing, security screening and chemical identification systems which are currently limited by the low output power of the existing terahertz sources.Integration of education with research activities:A special training program will be constructed to assimilate graduate students working on this type of interdisciplinary research, undergraduate students and summer interns will be recruited for the research activities, special priority will be given to recruitment of talented women undergraduate and graduate candidates and the members of underrepresented groups. Our PhD students is already teaching pupils from underrepresented population; we intend to integrate The THz research into this school activity via a series of experiment in order to attract this students to apply to university at the end of this 3 year project when the children will be 18. New graduate courses and interdisciplinary seminars will be developed and new teaching modules will be included in undergraduate courses, an update on our research results and educational tutorials will be disseminated to the public via easy-to-navigate web pages, bi-annual seminars and open house visits and scientific demos will be arranged for high school students

提案摘要我们建议通过首次利用太赫兹参量振荡器中的回音壁增强来设计、制造和实验演示一种新型太赫兹发射器。这些微米级回音壁模式谐振器提供的极高谐振品质因数不仅为光泵而且为生成的太赫兹波提供了前所未有的腔增强因数。我们的初步计算表明，这种增强可以转换太赫兹源，以实现相干（10 GHz 带宽）、线性偏振、频率可调的太赫兹发射，与现有技术相比，功率效率高出 100 倍。提出了关于回音厨房模式谐振器的潜在用途的全新视角，以从根本上提高现有太赫兹源的性能。回音壁增强使我们在过去成为第一个通过实验证明（1）微谐振器中的三次谐波，（2）微谐振器中的布里渊散射，以及（3）辐射压力引起的机械振动的人。利用这一经验，我们将探索使用类似的回音壁增强技术来提高二氧化硅微谐振器中的光到太赫兹的转换效率。理论研究提供了对回音壁增强型太赫兹参量振荡器的基本转换效率限制的深入理解。它们还为太赫兹回音壁增强的物理要求提供了宝贵的见解。此外，实验工作还为开发适当的二氧化硅微谐振器太赫兹发射器的实际限制和解决方案提供了直观的见解。更广泛的影响：拟议研究的成果将实现高性能医学成像、生物传感、安全筛查和化学识别系统目前受到现有太赫兹源输出功率低的限制。教育与研究活动的结合：将建立一个专门的培训计划来吸收从事此类跨学科研究的研究生，并将招募本科生和暑期实习生在研究活动中，将特别优先考虑招聘有才华的女本科生和研究生候选人以及代表性不足的群体的成员。我们的博士生已经在教授来自弱势群体的学生；我们打算通过一系列实验将太赫兹研究融入到学校活动中，以吸引这些学生在这个3年项目结束时申请大学，届时孩子们将年满18岁。将开发新的研究生课程和跨学科研讨会新的教学模块将纳入本科课程，我们的研究成果和教育教程的最新信息将通过易于浏览的网页向公众传播，每年两次的研讨会和开放日参观以及科学演示将被安排高的学校学生