Frequency-Agile Terahertz Spectrometry for Advanced Chemical Sensing

Regents Of The University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

The objective of this program is to develop a new generation of room-temperature terahertz spectrometers with significant bandwidth increase compared to existing technologies for advanced chemical sensing. For this purpose, a novel plasmonic heterodyne spectrometer concept will be investigated which replaces the terahertz local oscillator of traditional heterodyne receivers by a near infrared local oscillator with a terahertz envelope. Unique capabilities of plasmonic antennas are key in this innovation, which enable efficient coupling of the near infrared local oscillator and terahertz signal into the semiconductor nanostructures that are specifically designed to allow direct mixing of the local oscillator and terahertz signal. The intellectual merit of the proposed work is an entirely new heterodyne terahertz spectrometer architecture that uses a near infrared local oscillator instead of the terahertz local oscillator employed in conventional heterodyne terahertz spectrometers. Near infrared local oscillators offer orders of magnitude higher power, wider frequency tunability, and narrower linewidth compared with terahertz local oscillators, leading to a significant improvement in spectrometer sensitivity, operation bandwidth and spectral resolution at room temperature. The broader impacts of the proposed research are developing high performance systems for biomedical sensing, pharmaceutical quality control, air pollution control, and security screening, as well as developing an education/outreach program for increasing the supply of terahertz engineers and scientists through new graduate and undergraduate courses, K12 activities, recruitment and retention of under-represented minorities.