High repetition rate picosecond pulse terahertz parametric amplifier driven by a synchronized fiber laser

Abstract

Applications such as observing transient phenomena in materials and real-time terahertz (THz) spectroscopic imaging of molecules have highlighted the importance of high repetition rate, high power THz radiation sources with a broad frequency tuning range. Nevertheless, the development of such sources remains a bottleneck, hindering the advancement of these applications. We have recently developed a high repetition rate, picosecond-pulsed THz parametric amplifier system driven by a passively mode-locked femtosecond fiber laser, which can be synchronized to an external reference signal with sub-picosecond timing jitter. The system operates stably with a frequency tuning range from 1 to 6 THz. It achieves a maximum peak power of 4.3 kW at 5.7 THz when operating at 10 kHz and a maximum average power of 470 μW at the same frequency under 100 kHz operation. This THz source can not only serve as a seed for THz free-electron laser amplifiers, but also provide precise timing control for various THz applications.