Terahertz surface plasmons excitation by nonlinear mixing of lasers in over

ultrathin metal film coated dielectric

Pawan Kumar and V. K. Tripathi

Citation: J. Appl. Phys. 114, 053101 (2013); doi: 10.1063/1.4817091

View online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4817091
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 JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS 114, 053101 (2013)

Terahertz surface plasmons excitation by nonlinear mixing of lasers

in over ultrathin metal film coated dielectric
Pawan Kumara) and V. K. Tripathi
Department of Physics, IIT Delhi, New Delhi-110016, India

(Received 10 July 2013; accepted 15 July 2013; published online 1 August 2013)
An ultrathin metal film deposited on dielectric plate supports low loss THz surface plasma wave
(SPW). The SPW field falls off away from the metal film both inside the dielectric as well as in
free space. Two lasers normally incident, from free space on the planar structure, exert a difference
frequency ponderomotive force on the free electrons of the film and resonantly excite THz
SPW. The ratio of SPW amplitude to lasers is 103 at laser intensity of 3  1012 W/cm2 at 1 l m
wavelength. The growth rate falls monotonically because at higher frequency the coupling of SPW
C 2013 AIP Publishing LLC. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4817091]
is weak. V

I. INTRODUCTION plasmons (GSPs) in the THz regime investigated in subwa-

velength heavily doped semiconductor slit.28
Terahertz radiation generation (0.1–10 THz), using
Welsh et al.29 described the THz- pulse emission
intense laser matter interaction, has emerged as a major area
through laser excitation of SPs on a structured gold surface
of research in recent years due to its potential applications.1–9
(metal grating). The laser impinged on the surface does two
In such cases, it is desirable to tightly confine the probing
things. One, it excites a SPs with an evanescent electromag-
radiation, while at the same time providing easy accessibility
netic field. Two, it produces photoelectrons near the surface.
of the guided mode especially surface plasmons (SPs). SPs
These electrons get accelerated in the ponderomotive poten-
are guided electromagnetic modes, propagate along the sur-
tial associated with the evanescent field and short THz-pulse.
face between a conductor and a dielectric or conductor and
Maier et al.30 showed that highly localized SPs can be sus-
air with their field amplitude peaking at the interface and fall-
tained in the THz region on periodically corrugated metals
ing off exponentially away from it in either medium.10–12 SPs
wires.
have drawn vigorous attention in recent years due to their
Quantum cascade lasers31 (QCLs) are other sources for
wide ranging applications.13–19 The intensive studies of SPs
THz radiation generation. Terahertz QC lasers32,33 are the
in the last two decades primarily focused on the visible and
brightest cw solid state sources that operate above liquid
near-infrared regimes.14,20,21
nitrogen temperatures in the 1.2–5 THz range. For QCLs
At THz frequencies, however, metals resemble in many
operating in the THz range, due to the relatively small
ways a perfect conductors, and the negligible penetration of
energy separation between the subbands associated with the
the electromagnetic field leads to highly localized SPs.The
lasing levels, the nonradiative scattering processes are very
localized electromagnetic modes if interacting with a struc-
efficient and are responsible for intrinsic limitations in terms
tured surface, which significantly slows down the group
of quantum efficiency and maximum operation temperature.
velocity of SPs and brings the asymptotic SPs frequency into
The optical rectification is also very efficient method
the THz frequency range. Such microstructured surfaces are
for THz wave generation.34 One of the requirements for the
called designer plasmonic structures or “spoof” SPs struc-
generation of THz pulses by optical rectification is fs laser
tures, as introduced by Pendry and Martin-Moreno, and
source, which is still very expensive. THz generation by
Garcıa-Vidal and observed on structured metals at THz fre-
optical rectification has two obvious disadvantages: the broad
quencies.22,23 Williams et al.24 reported the highly confined
line widths and the low output power or pulse energies. The
guiding THz SPs in structured metal surfaces.
basic limitation of THz generation by optical rectification is
Jeon and Grischkowsky25 described an experimental
the velocity mismatch. The difference frequency method
study of THz pulses propagating as THz surface plasmons
(DFM) is very efficient method for generation continuously
(TSP), on a metal sheet and measure a much higher attenua-
tunable and coherent THz radiation in the wide range.35 The
tion of the propagating TSP pulses and a much reduced
conversion efficiency is high which leads a high power of the
spatial extent of the TSP evanescent field. Yong He et al.26
output.
have been investigated the gain-assisted hybrid surface plas-
In this paper, we explore the generation of THz SPW via
mon polaritons waveguide structure in the THz regime by
the nonlinear mixing of lasers. The SPW can be mode con-
using the transfer matrix method. Yong He et al.27 have been
verted to THz radiation. The planar structure comprises a
investigated the dispersion and gain material in subwave-
dielectric plate coated on top with an ultrathin metal film. The
length metal-dielectric stratified structures (MDSSs), in
other surface of the film is exposed to free space (or air). The
the THz regime. The propagation properties of gap surface
film has a surface ripple of suitable wave number. This struc-
ture support THz SPs with weak attenuation. We impinge two
a)
Email: kumarpawan_30@yahoo.co.in lasers, with frequency difference in the terahertz range, on the

0021-8979/2013/114(5)/053101/4/$30.00 114, 053101-1 C 2013 AIP Publishing LLC

V

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053101-2 P. Kumar and V. K. Tripathi J. Appl. Phys. 114, 053101 (2013)

planar structure. They impart oscillatory velocities to elec- x > d (Vacuum)

trons and exert a beat frequency ponderomotive force on
them, inducing oscillatory velocity on electrons. The latter  
i kz xe0
beats with the surface ripple to produce a current that reso- ~
A ¼ A0 ^z þ ^x eax ; A0 ¼  A0 eax ;
a ia
nantly excites THz SPW. In Sec. II, we developed the formal-
ism of THz SPs excitation via the nonlinear mixing of lasers a ¼ ðk2z  x2 =c2 Þ1=2 :
in ultrathin metal film coated over dielectric and in Sec. III,
we discuss the results. Using the continuity of Ez and Hy at x ¼ 0, x ¼ d, one obtains
the dispersion relation
II. THZ SURFACE PLASMONS EXCITATION VIA      
em a em a g em a em ag 2am d
NONLINEAR MIXING ON PLANAR STRUCTURE 1 1 ¼ 1þ 1þ e : (3)
am am eg am am eg
Consider a glass substrate of relative permittivity eg
occupying half space x  0 (cf. Fig. 1). A thin metal film of For am d  1 there are two roots: (i) em a=am ¼ 1. It gives
thickness d and effective relative permittivity em are depos- the dispersion relation for SPW at metal- vacuum interface
ited on it between 0 < x < d. The region x > d is free space.
 
We take the effective relative permittivity of metal at x2 em
frequency x as k2z ¼ 2
c em þ 1
x2p
e m ¼ eL  ; (1) (ii) em ag =am eg ¼ 1. It gives the dispersion relation for
x2 SPW at metal–glass interface
where eL is the lattice dielectric constant of the metal,  
x2 em eg
xp ¼ ðn0 e2 =me0 Þ1=2 , n0 , -e and m are the density, charge and k2z ¼ :
c 2 em þ e g
effective mass of free electrons, e0 is free space permittivity,
c is the speed of light in vacuum and we have ignored colli-
For ultrathin metal film xp d=c  1 < x2p d=cx2 , the
sions for the moment.
metal sheet of conductivity r and thickness d can be taken as
A SPW propagates along ^z with t-z variations as
a layer of zero thickness and infinite conductivity so that the
exp½iðx t  kz zÞ. The electric and magnetic fields of the
current density is
SPW in three regions can be written as
iðx tkz zÞ
~
J ¼ rddðxÞEz^z : (4)
~ ~
E ¼ AðxÞe ;
0 iðx
(2)
~ ¼ ^y A ðxÞe
H tk z zÞ
; It gives jump condition on Hy at x ¼ 0

where Hy jx¼0þ  Hy jx¼0 ¼ rdEz jx¼0 :

x < 0 (glass) Also Ez ¼ continuous at x ¼ 0. These conditions yield the

  dispersion relation
ikz x e0 eg
~
A¼ Ag ^z  ^x eag x ; A0 ¼ A g ea g x ;
ag i ag eg 1
1=2
þ ¼ em d: (5)
ag ¼ ðk2z 2 2
 ðx =c Þeg Þ : ag a

0 < x < d (metal) In a special case when eg ¼ 1 from Eq. (5) one obtains
    !
i kz am x i kz am x x2 x2 4c2 x2
~ ¼ Am ^
A z  ^x e þ A0 m ^z þ ^x e ; 2 4
kz ¼ 2 þ 2 2  2 1 þ 4 2 : (6)
am am c c
em d xp d
x e0 em
A0 ¼ ðAm eam x  A0 m eam x Þ;
i am
When eg 6¼ 1 from Eq. (5), one obtains
am ¼ ðk2z  ðx2 =c2 Þem Þ1=2 :
!
x2 e2g x2 e2g x4
k2z ¼ 2 eg þ 2 2 ¼ 2 1 þ 4 2 2 2 : (7)
c em d c xp d x =c

x2
Assuming kz  x=c it is valid when xc dem  1 or xp2 xc a  1,
it gives d  xc
x2 . For the following parameters: xp
p

1016 rad=s; x 1013 rad=s the value of film thickness is

0:3A0 . For xp 3  1015 rad=s; x 2  1013 rad=s, the value
of film thickness is 6A0 . These conditions are hard to satisfy.
FIG. 1. Schematic of planar structure supporting THz surface plasma wave. A more reasonable case is when dem 1, in that case ag ’ 0

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053101-3 P. Kumar and V. K. Tripathi J. Appl. Phys. 114, 053101 (2013)

or a ’ 0, kz x=c and ag will be imaginary. Hence only

1=2
possibility is kz ’ eg x=c so a2g ’ e2g =e2m d2 , using this in Eq.
2
(7), we obtains the thickness of the film d  3eg xx2 xc . For the
p

following parameters: eg ¼ 2:5, xp 3  1015 rad=s; x 2

1013 rad=s, one obtains the thickness of the film is 50A0 . In
Fig. 2, we have plotted normalized x=xp0 versus normalized
kz c=xp0 for the SPW for typical thickness, d ¼ 50A0 xp 3
1015 rad=s; x 2  1013 rad=s and xp0 ¼ 2p 1013 . At
low frequency x varies linearly with kz . However at higher
frequencies, it varies gradually.
Now, we consider two lasers nearly normally impinging
on the planar structure (cf. Fig. 3), FIG. 3. THz SPW excitation via NL mixing of lasers.

E 1 ¼ ^y A1 eði x1 tk1x xk1z zÞ ;

~
(8) Had there been a surface ripple of wave number q on the
E 2 ¼ y^ A2 eði x2 tk2x xk2z zÞ ;
~ metal film; one could model it as a density ripple36

with x ¼ x1  x2 in the THz range. The lasers impart oscil- n00 n0

n0 ¼ þ nq ; nq ¼ 0 eiqz ; (11)
latory velocities to electrons 2 2

e~
E1 e~
E2 where q ¼ kTHz  ðk1z  k2z Þ, kTHz is the wave vector kz of
v1 ¼
~ v2 ¼
;~ : surface plasma wave of frequency x. Equation (3) gives the
mix1 mix2
relevant nonlinear current density as
They also exert beat ponderomotive force on them,
  NL ðk1z  k2z Þ
e ~
J x ¼ ^z nq e ~ v 2 ffi ^z Fdeiðx tkTHz zÞ dðxÞ; (12)
v 1 :~
~
Fp ¼  ~ v1  ~ v2  ~
B2 þ ~ B1 ; 2ðx1  x2 Þ
2 (9)
m
Fpz ¼  iðkiz  k2z Þ~ v 1 :~
v2: where
2
n00 eððk1z  k2z Þ e2 A1 A2
The ponderomotive force imparts oscillatory to electrons at F¼ :
frequency x1  x2 4x m2 x 1 x 2

~Fp The nonlinear current density manifests itself in the jump

vx ¼
~ ; (10) condition on Hy of the THz surface plasma wave
miðxi  x2 Þ

giving a nonlinear current Hy jx¼0þ  Hy jx¼0 ¼ rdEz jx¼0 þ Fdeiðx tkTHz zÞ :

~ NL ðk1z  k2z Þ The THz fields are

J x ¼ ^z n0 e ~
v 1 :~
v2:
2ðx1  x2 Þ x < 0 (glass)
 
~ ikz ag x i ðx tkz zÞ
E ¼ A0 ^z  x^ e e ;
ag
(13)
xe0 eg
Hy ¼ Ag eag x eiðx tkz zÞ :
iag

x > 0 (vacuum)
 
~ ikz ag x i ðx tkz zÞ
E ¼ A0 ^z þ x^ e e ;
a (14)
xe0
Hy ¼  Ag eag x ei ðx tkz zÞ :
ia

Jump condition on Hy at x ¼ 0 gives the dispersion relation

DA0 ¼ iFd=xF0 ; (15)
e
where D ¼ agg þ 1a þ em d.
FIG. 2. Normalized x=xp0 versus normalized kz c=xp0 for the SPW for typi- At exact phase matching D vanishes. However, due to
cal thickness d 5nm, xp 51015 rad=s;x 1013 rad=s and xp0 ¼2p1013 . the finite length of the interaction region, L ð 2r0 Þ where r0

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053101-4 P. Kumar and V. K. Tripathi J. Appl. Phys. 114, 053101 (2013)

of the mode is outside the film, attenuation of THz SPW is

weak. The THz SPW efficiently excited by modest laser
power 1012 W/cm2. The ratio of THz field amplitude and
laser amplitude is of the order 0.1% at laser intensity
1012 W/cm2 at 1 lm wavelength. The efficiency has been
upper bound given by Manley Rowe relations. The thickness
of the metal film is a critical parameter.

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