Efficient terahertz generation in highly nonlinear organic crystal HMB-TMS

• Main Authors: Lee, Seung-Chul (Author), Han, Jae-Hyun (Author), Kown, O-Pil (Author), Nelson, Keith A. (Author), Lu, Jian (Contributor), Lee, SeungHeon (Contributor), Li, Xian (Contributor)
• Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemistry (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Optical Society of America, 2019-03-25T14:37:14Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

 We report on generation of strong and broadband terahertz (THz) pulses via collinearly phase-matched optical rectification of near-infrared femtosecond pulses in the organic nonlinear optical HMB-TMS (2-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxystyryl)-3-methylbenzo[d]thiazol-3-ium 2,4,6-trimethylbenzenesulfonate) single crystals which exhibit optimal molecular orientation and large macroscopic optical nonlinearity for efficient THz wave generation. Single-cycle THz pulses with a peak electric field strength of 0.66 MV/cm and a bandwidth from 0.1 to 5.4 THz are achieved from an HMB-TMS crystal with only a 2-mm clear aperture pumped by 1350 nm pulses at moderate fluences. The generated THz energy is about 1 µJ and the corresponding pump-to-THz energy conversion efficiency reaches 0.23%.