Grant: Idea to Innovation

The present proposal deals with the development and demonstration of commercial prototypes for a new class of compact and portable Terahertz-Time Domain Spectroscopy (THz-TDS) systems, based on the recent realization of active two-wire waveguides. Our invention, called THz Two-Wire Transmitter (THz-TWT), has been developed by the PI of this proposal (Professor Morandotti) and his team. Thanks to this technology, it is possible to generate THz radiation directly within the guiding structure, thus allowing us to overcome the significant problems associated with a poor coupling efficiency and mode mismatch. The demonstration of an active two-wire waveguide made by the embodiment of a gallium arsenide piece (playing the role of the THz emitter) between the two metallic wires at the basis of the proposed device results in the generation of a THz electric field directly within the guiding structure. By comparing the coupling efficiency of the active configuration with that of the standard case, in which the radiation is generated outside the waveguide, we reported a 63 times higher energy throughput for the same initial conditions. Compact THz-TDS will then consist of a fiber based femtosecond laser directly connected to our active waveguides, a delay line and a sample holder. Out-coupling from the active waveguides can be significantly improved by introducing horn-shaped tapers at the end of the waveguide. Such geometry for the active waveguide will facilitate the irradiation of the sample and the back-coupling of THz radiation into the detector. Our proposed system will thus overcome the limitations, typically associated to standard THz-TDS systems, by using the proposed active waveguides for beam steering and guiding, in a novel and scalable configuration. In turn, this will significantly reduce the total size of the system by cutting the supporting optics while increasing its portability and compactness. The main objective of the proposed project is to push forward the development of our invention with the aim to increase the value of our intellectual property and to enlarge the number of potential customers who might be interested in our technology, consisting of a new generation of ultra-compact THz-TDS systems.