THz generation by laser coupling to carbon nanotube array

Rakhee Malik, and R. Uma

Citation: Physics of Plasmas 25, 013106 (2018);

View online: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4997812
View Table of Contents: http://aip.scitation.org/toc/php/25/1
Published by the American Institute of Physics

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 PHYSICS OF PLASMAS 25, 013106 (2018)

THz generation by laser coupling to carbon nanotube array

Rakhee Malika) and R. Uma
Centre for Energy Studies, IIT Delhi, New Delhi 110016, India
(Received 27 July 2017; accepted 13 December 2017; published online 4 January 2018)
A viable scheme of THz radiation generation by beating of two lasers (x1 , k~1 ; x2 , k~2 ) in a
nanotube array, mounted on a dielectric substrate, is proposed and studied. The free electrons of
the nanotubes acquire a large oscillatory velocity and experience a beat frequency ponderomotive
force that turns nanotubes into oscillating dipole antennae emitting THz radiation. The THz power
peaks in directions where a phase difference between fields due to successive pnanotubes
ffiffiffi is integral
multiple of 2p. The THz power is large when the beat frequency equals xp = 2 (where xp is the
electron plasma frequency) and surface plasmon resonance occurs. For our set of laser and carbon
nanotube parameters, the generated THz is about 0.1 kW for CO2 laser power of 10 GW and pulse
length of a few picoseconds. Published by AIP Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4997812

I. INTRODUCTION
The carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have electron plasma fre-
quencies in the THz range, hence appear to be a favorable
medium for terahertz radiation generation via nonlinear cou-
pling with lasers.1–3 The existing schemes of THz generation
involve the interaction of high power laser or relativistic
electron beam with semiconductors and plasmas.4–12
Presently, there is an increased interest in THz science in
employing metallic nanotubes and carbon nanotubes (CNTs)
to produce THz radiations as these structures provide the
advantage of compactness with significant efficiency.1
Gildenburg and Vvdenskii13 have reported an interesting
result on tunnel ionization by laser plasma interaction. The
electron produced via tunnel ionization retains finite residual
transverse momentum after the laser pulse is gone and sets in
transverse oscillations
pffiffiffi about the ion cylinder with the natural
frequency xp = 2, where xp is electron plasma frequency.
The oscillating electron cylinder acts as an oscillating dipole
and produces THz radiation.
Kibis and Portnoi14 investigated a scheme of THz gener-
ation in which heating of the electron gas in CNTs due to
electric field can produce population inversion of the elec-
tron sub bands with energy difference in the THz range.
Titova et al.15 have reported the generation of polarized tera-
hertz pulses from single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs)
array from femtosecond (fs) optical pulses in the absence of
external bias. A built-in electric field in the semiconducting
SWCNTs is generated by top-bottom asymmetry in the
SWCNTs array, which produces polarized THz radiation due
to transient photocurrent. Portnoi et al.16 have shown that
quasi metallic carbon nanotubes, with the application of
potential difference, can emit THz radiation and maximum
spectral density has strong dependence on the applied volt-
age. They find that tunable THz detectors and emitters can
be created by armchair carbon nanotubes with the effect of
magnetic field. Shuba et al.17 have studied the electromag-
netic properties of SWCNT film on the surface of silica
a)
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: malikrakheephys17@
gmail.com
fibers and reported the antenna resonance in the THz range
with a low temperature photoconductivity measurement. The
concept of thermal radiation in the THz range from a metal-
lic carbon nanotube caused by the formation of discrete spec-
tral lines due to geometrical nano-antenna resonances is
theoretically investigated by Nemilentsau et al.18 Wang
et al.19 have shown that CNT antenna increases the band-
width of high frequency THz radiation in comparison with
photoconductive antenna. THz radiation properties emitted
by a metallic CNT antenna have been investigated experi-
mentally by Wang and Wu20 in THz waveform and field dis-
tribution. Parashar and Sharma21 have studied the generation
of THz radiation by optical rectification of amplitude modu-
lated laser in a vertical array of CNTs mounted on a metallic
base. A scheme to generate THz radiation by passing an
electron bunch over a nanotube array across their lengths has
been studied by Kumar and Kumar.22 A beat wave terahertz
(THz) undulator formed by the beating of two laser pulses at
normal incidence to the electron-moving direction has been
proposed by Chang et al.23 to realize a higher gain X-ray
Free electron laser.24
In the present paper, we study the nonlinear mixing of
two lasers in an array of CNTs embedded on a dielectric
base to generate THz radiation. The two lasers of frequency
(x1 ; x2 ) and wave vectors (k~1 , ~k 2 ) impinged on the CNTs
array with an angle h0 . A beat ponderomotive force is
exerted on the electrons of the carbon nanotubes at beating
frequency x ¼ x1  x2 , where x is in the THz range,
inducing a nonlinear current. These oscillating CNTs array
act as antennae to generate THz radiation at beating fre-
quency. In Sec. II, we drive nonlinear current density. In
Sec. III, we calculate vector potential and radiated power at
THz frequency. Discussion is given in Sec. IV.
II. NONLINEAR CURRENT DENSITY
Consider a dielectric surface embedded with cylindrical
carbon nanotubes (CNTs) of radius rc , length lc , free electron
density n0e , and nanotube axis along y^ as shown in Fig. 1.
Two P-polarized lasers of frequencies x1 and x2 are
obliquely incident on the CNTs array (x ¼ 0) at an angle h0

1070-664X/2018/25(1)/013106/4/$30.00 25, 013106-1 Published by AIP Publishing.

013106-2 R. Malik and R. Uma Phys. Plasmas 25, 013106 (2018)

F~x
v NL ¼
~  2 p 2 : (6)
mi x  xp =2

The nonlinear current density inside a single CNT at x can

be written as
NL n eF ~ x
v NL
J~x ¼ n0e e~ x ¼  0e2 pz 2 
mi x  xp =2
h i
x
x þ ð1  RA Þ2 coth0 ^z eiðxt c cosh0 zÞ ; (7)
¼ F ð1  R2A Þ^
FIG. 1. Schematic of THz generation by the interaction of lasers with nano-
tubes array. where

e3 x2 n0e A10 A20 x2 sin h0

with respect to the z-axis. The laser electric field as seen by F¼   :
the CNTs can be written as the superposition of the incident 2m2 c x2  x2p =2 x22  x2p =2
and reflected waves
xj xj III. THz VECTOR POTENTIAL AND RADIATED POWER
z þ coth0 x^Þ sin h0 Aj eiðxj t c cos h0 zþ c sin h0 xÞ
~j ¼ ð^
E
xj xj Now, consider a planar array of CNTs with their lengths
z  coth0 x^Þ sin h0 RA Aj eiðxj t c cos h0 z c sin h0 xÞ ; (1)
þ ð^ along y^ axis and centers at ðn1 d0 ^z ; n2 b0 y^Þ, n1 ¼ 0; 1;
2……::N1 , and n2 ¼ 0; 1; 2……::N2 . By acting as an oscilla-
where j ¼ 1; 2, x ¼ x1  x2 , and x is in the THz range. RA tory dipole, a CNT produces a vector potential. Total vector
is the amplitude reflection coefficient of reflected wave from
potential due to entire CNTs array at a far point can be written
the dielectric surface23
as
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
1  eg sin h0 = eg  cos2 h0
RA ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ; (2) ~ r ;tÞ ¼ l0 pr 2 lc ðJ~NL Þ
Að~ ;
1 þ eg sin h0 = eg  cos2 h0 4pr c hN trN =c i
l
where eg is the permittivity of the dielectric material. ¼ 0 prc2 lc F ð1  R2A Þ^ x þ ð1  RA Þ2 coth0 ^z
4pr
XX
Under the laser electric field, the electrons of a CNT are 
x x
eiðxt c j~r rn1 ;n2 j c cosh0 n1 dÞ ; (8)
displaced by a distance ~ D with respect to the ion cylinder. n1 n2
When ~ D is perpendicular to the axis of the CNT, a space
charge field E ~s ¼ n0e e~
D=2e0 is created in the overlap region r n1 ;n2 ¼ n1 d cos h^z þ n2 b sin h sin /^
where ~ y : For r  j~
r n1 ;n2 j,
of the electron and ion cylinders. Under the combined fields one may write
of the laser fields and the space charge fields, the drift veloci-
ties of electrons turn out to be j~
r ~
r n1 ;n2 j ¼ r  n1 d cosh  n2 bsinhsin/:
h i
~ r ;tÞ ¼ ð1  R2 Þ^ 2
Að~ A x þ ð1  RA Þ coth0 ^
z
eE~1 x1
v x1 ¼
~  ; (3) x ðN1 1Þ ðN2 1Þ

mi x21  x2p =2  A00 SðwÞeiðxt c rþ 2 w1 þ 2 w2 Þ

l0 2 sinðN1 w1 =2Þ sinðN2 w2 =2Þ

A00 ¼ pr lc F; SðwÞ ¼ ;
eE~2 x2 4pr c sinðw2 =2Þ sinðw2 =2Þ
v x2 ¼
~  ; (4) (9)
2
mi x2  x2p =2
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi w1 ¼ xd xb
c ðcos h  cos h0 Þ and w2 ¼ c sin h sin /; where h is
where xp ¼ n0e e2 =e0 m, e, and m are the electron charge the angle of direction of observation r^ makes with z axis.
and mass and e0 is the free space permittivity and eL is the The magnetic field at ~ r (far distance) is
relative permittivity of the lattice. For ~
D k y^, there is no
~¼ r
B ~ r ; tÞ ffi i x r^  A:
~  Að~ ~ (10)
space charge restoration force. The lasers also exert a pon- c
deromotive force on CNT electrons The time average Poynting’s vector using above equation
can be written as
~P ¼  e v  B ¼  xie2 A10 A20 sinh0  
F jBj2 c x2 l0 2 2
2 2mcðx21  x2pe =2Þðx22  x2pe =2Þ S~av ¼ r^ c ¼ r^ pr l c
h i 2l0 2l0 c2 4pr c
x
 ð1  R2A Þ^x þ ð1  RA Þ2 coth0 ^z eiðxt c cosh0 zÞ : (5) e6 x4 n20e A210 A2 2
20 sin h0
    2
Here, we have taken reflection coefficient to be real 4m4 c2 x2  x2p =2 2 x22  x2p =2
RA ¼ RA .
 S2 ðwÞ  Gðh; /Þ; (11)
The oscillatory velocity of electrons due to the pondero-
motive force can be written as where
013106-3 R. Malik and R. Uma Phys. Plasmas 25, 013106 (2018)

h
Gðh; /Þ ¼ ð1 R2A Þ2 sin2 hsin2 /þð1 RA Þ4 sin2 hcot2 h0
i
þð1 R2A Þcos2 hþð1 R2A Þð1 RA Þ2 sin2hcos/coth0

and

sin2 ðN1 w1 =2Þ sin2 ðN2 w2 =2Þ

S2 ðwÞ ¼ :
sin2 ðw2 =2Þ sin2 ðw2 =2Þ

THz power conversion efficiency is of the order of the ratio

of total THz power to incident laser power and calculated at
a far distance in (h, /) direction and written as

PTHz S~av  4pr2

¼
~1 j2 =2l0 c  pr2
PLaser jE 0
x6 x22 a220 sin2 h0
¼ r^   2
16 x2  x2p =2 2 x22  x2p =2 FIG. 2. Variation of incidence h0 for
pffiffiffi of normalized THz power withpangle
ffiffiffi
!2 x ¼ 0:98xp = 2 (blue line) and x ¼ 0:96xp = 2 (red line). The other
x2p0 rc2 lc parameters are x2 ¼ 2  1014 rad=s; rc xp =c ¼ 0:003; N1 ¼ 1000; N2
  S2 ðwÞ  Gðh; /Þ: (12) ¼ 60; a2 ¼ 0:03.
c 2 r0

In Fig. 2, we have shown the variation of THz power the THz pffiffiffi power occurs due to plasmon resonance at
conversion efficiency, that is, ratio of Total THz power and x xp = 2. There is a sharp reduction in the THz power pffiffias
ffi
one moves away from the resonance point (x xp = 2).
pffiffiffi h0 for the following set
total incident laser power, with angle
Zhang et al.1 investigated experimentally that a broad and
of parameters:
pffiffiffi x ¼ 0:98x p = 2 (red line) and x ¼
0:96xp = 2 (blue line), x2 ¼ 2  1014 rad=s; rc xp =c ¼ strong conductivity peak in metallic and doped semiconduct-
eA20 ing CNTs is caused by the phenomena of plasmon
0:002; r0 ¼ 120lm eg ¼ 2:5 ðglassÞ; a2 ¼ mx 2c
 0:03 (cor-
resonance.
responding to incident CO2 laser power 10 GW at 10:6lm
In Fig. 4, we have displayed the variation of THz power
wavelength), xp 3  1015 rad=s for N1 ¼ 1000; N2 ¼ 60;
conversion efficiency with normalized electron plasma fre-
l ¼ 2 lm, rc ¼ 20 nm, and separation between CNTs
quency (xp =x2 ). We have also plotted the optimally gener-
d ¼ 30 nm. The radiated THz power increases with angle,
ated THz frequency as function of xp =x2 , presuming that x1
attains a maximum for h0 ¼ 48:75
, and then decreases grad-
is suitably changed to attain this frequency, that is,
ually for higher values of angle h0 . THz power has a strong
x1 ¼ x2 þ x. The CNTs with higher electron density pro-
maxima in those directions, where
duce higher THz power. The frequency of the generated THz
xd increases linearly with xp =x2 .
w1 ¼ ðcos h  cos h0 Þ ¼ 2m1 p; m1 ¼ 1; 2; 3…
c
and
xb
w2 ¼ sin h sin / ¼ 2m2 p; 1; 2; 3…::
c
In those directions, S ¼ N12 N22 for w1 ¼ 0 and w2 ¼ 0 or
when w1 and w2 are integral multiples of 2p. It is observed
that a strong enhancement in the power is observed in the
direction for which w1 ¼ 0 and w2 ¼ 0. This condition is
achieved when / ¼ 0 and for any value of h (direction of
observation). One may note that we get maximum power
when h ¼ h0 , which is called in the direction of specular
reflection.
In Fig. 3, we have shown the variation of THz power
with the normalized THz frequency at / ¼ 0
; h0 ¼ 48:75

and h0 ¼ 70
. The other parameters are same as given in Fig.
2. THz power has a strong dependence on the THz fre-
quency. The resonant enhancement pffiffiffi in THz power is
FIG.
pffiffiffi 3. Variation of normalized THz power with normalized THz frequency
observed as x approaches xp = 2, where xp is electron 2x=xp for / ¼ 08 and h0 ¼ 48:758 and h0 ¼ 708. Other parameters are
plasma frequency of the carbon nanotubes. Enhancement in same as given in Fig. 2.
013106-4 R. Malik and R. Uma Phys. Plasmas 25, 013106 (2018)

replaced by Fn1 ; n2 , where Fn1 ; n2 depends on the intensity pro-

file of the lasers. Chang et al.25 have shown the generation of
flat top laser with a tapered end to obtain a Gaussian pulse dis-
tribution and the effect of incident laser beam shaping on the
enhancement of the power gain of the X-ray Free electron
laser. In the future, we suggest realizing arbitrary laser profiles
to increase the efficiency of THz radiation generation.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors are grateful to Professor V. K. Tripathi for
valuable discussions. This work was supported by
Department of Science and Technology (DST), India (Grant
Reference No. SR/WOS-A/PM-58/2016), for providing the
financial support.
FIG. 4. Variation of THz power conversion efficiency (left side y axis, blue
and dashed line) and ratio of THz frequency to laser frequency x=x2 (right 1
side Y axis, green and solid line) with xp =x2 for parameters Q. Zhang, E. H. Haroz, Z. Jin, L. Ren, X. Wang, R. S. Arvidson, A.
x2 ¼ 2  1014 rad=s; rc xp =c ¼ 0:01; N1 ¼ 1000; N2 ¼ 60; a2 ¼ 0:03, and L€uttge, and J. Kono, Nano Lett. 13, 5991 (2013).
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P. Avouris, M. Freitag, and V. Perebeions, Nat. Photonics 2, 341 (2008).
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IV. DISCUSSION L. Bhasin and V. K. Tripathi, Phys. Plasmas 16, 103105 (2009).
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