Generation of multicycle terahertz waves from single-crystal quartz
Phys. Rev. Applied 25, 014020 – Published 8 January, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/6hbk-7sxl
Abstract
Terahertz (THz) sources emitting single-period pulses have been extensively studied and applied. However, multi-period THz sources remain scarce. In this work, we utilize a THz emission spectroscopy (TES) system to investigate the THz emission characteristics of quartz single crystals. It is demonstrated that the THz waves emitted from the quartz are generated via the optical rectification (OR) effect, and their radiation intensity is influenced by the thickness and azimuth angle of the quartz. Notably, multi-cycle THz waves can be successfully achieved by stacking several slices of quartz with a specific azimuth angle. The THz peak signal from two stacked layers is nearly twice that of a single-layer sample. Moreover, the number of cycles can be modulated by adjusting the number of stacked quartz layers. In addition, it is shown that linearly polarized THz waves can still be generated under the excitation of both left- and right-handed circularly polarized light. However, these waves exhibit opposite polarities and different signal amplitudes. Our work proposes a new method to generate single or multi-cycle THz waves using cost-effective quartz materials, which may open up new possibilities in the field of THz technology.
