Ultrabroadband Single-Shot Waveform Detection of Air-Plasma Based THz Sources

Abstract

Air-plasma based THz sources combined with the air/solid-state biased coherent detection (ABCD/SSBCD) scheme can provide ultrabroad bandwidth and enable THz spectroscopy across the entire THz regime. Static THz time-domain spectroscopy (TDS) applications utilizing the broadband nature of this technology are abundant, and there has also been strong interest in applying air photonics for transient THz spectroscopy (TRTS). For instance, probing photocarrier dynamics in photovoltaic thin films [1]. A full two-dimensional pump-probe TRTS measurement is normally very time consuming due to the serial nature of data acquisition in THz-TDS. To overcome this issue, single-shot THz waveform detection techniques that capture a full THz waveform on a multi-element detector with a single or few probe pulses have been intensively investigated [2]. To date, most of the reported single-shot THz detection schemes are based on EO sampling and support detection bandwidth only up to a few THz. Here we present the first two-color air-plasma based single-shot THz waveform detection with detected bandwidth up to at least 12 THz.