Experimental investigations into capability of terahertz surface plasmons to bridge macroscopic air gaps

Results of experimental and theoretical studies of the capability of terahertz surface plasmons (SPs) to cross macroscopic air gaps in a substrate (or between substrates) with admissible losses are presented. SPs were launched with quasi-cw free-electron laser radiation with 130 μm wavelength (λ). We managed to detect SPs passing across gaps as wide as 100 mm (or about 10(3)⋅λ), which is very promising for development of terahertz SP circuitry. The phenomenon was harnessed for splitting an SP beam into two new ones, guided by their own individual plane-surface substrates.

Generation of Terahertz Surface Plasmon Polaritons Using Nondiffractive Bessel Beams with Orbital Angular Momentum

Bessel vortex beams with topological charges of l=±1 and l=±2 were produced in the terahertz spectral range from a free electron laser Gaussian beam (λ=141  μm) transformed using silicon binary diffractive optical elements. The spatial characteristics of the beams were obtained using a microbolometer array. A radius to path length ratio of 1:100 was achieved for nondiffractive beams with the average power of 30 W. Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) on gold-zinc-sulphide-air interfaces were generated due to diffraction of vortex beams on a sample edge. A new effect, a dependence of the efficiency of SPP generation on the direction of the azimuthal component of incident-radiation Poynting vector, was revealed.

Stark spectroscopy of a probe lithium beam excited with two dye lasers as a technique to study a high-power ion-beam diode

A non-disturbing measurement of electric field distributions is a subject of special interest in plasma physics and high-voltage devices. In this paper we describe a diagnostic technique for remote sensing of electric fields via injection of a probe beam of lithium atoms and cascade excitation of resonance fluorescence with two broadband dye lasers. The fluorescence spectrum was recorded using a monochromator equipped with an optical multi-channel analyser. The magnitude of the local electric field was retrieved from the Stark-shifted components of the 3d-2p lithium spectral line. The technique was applied to measurements of the electric field in the applied-B-field high-voltage diode of the 1 TW KALIF ion-beam accelerator.