Emission of coherent THz-radiation from superconductors.
Compact solid-state sources of terahertz (THz) radiation are being sought for sensing, imaging, and spectroscopy applications across the physical and biological sciences. We demonstrate that coherent continuous-wave THz radiation of sizable power can be extracted from intrinsic Josephson junctions in the layered high-temperature superconductor Bi{sub 2}Sr{sub 2}CaCu{sub 2}O{sub 8}. In analogy to a laser cavity, the excitation of an electromagnetic cavity resonance inside the sample generates a macroscopic coherent state in which a large number of junctions are synchronized to oscillate in phase. The emission power is found to increase as the square of the number of junctions reaching values of 0.5 microwatt at frequencies up to 0.85 THz, and persists up to 50 kelvin. These results should stimulate the development of superconducting compact sources of THz radiation.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC); Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture and Technology; Turkish TUBITAK
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-06CH11357
- OSTI ID:
- 920573
- Report Number(s):
- ANL/MSD/JA-60535; SCEHDK; TRN: US0805297
- Journal Information:
- Science, Vol. 318, Issue 5854 ; Nov. 23, 2007; ISSN 0193-4511
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- ENGLISH
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