Terahertz characterization of semiconductor alloy AlInN: negative imaginary conductivity and its meaning: comment.

In a recent article [Opt. Lett.34, 2507 (2009)], the authors concluded that the imaginary part of the complex conductivity sigma of an AlInN film was negative.

A terahertz time-domain spectrometer for simultaneous transmission and reflection measurements at normal incidence.

We present a versatile terahertz time-domain spectrometer which allows reflection measurements at normal incidence and double pass transmission measurements in a single experimental setup. Two different modes for transmission measurements are demonstrated for precise measurements of transparent high or low refractive index materials, respectively. The refractive indices and absorption coefficients of cesium iodide, potassium bromide, sodium chloride, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE, Teflon), and silicon have been measured in the frequency range between 1.

Beam-size effects in electro-optic sampling of terahertz pulses.

In electro-optic sampling of terahertz pulses with a finite diameter, the probe pulse is subject to a lensing effect. The altered diffraction leads to an additional phase shift Deltaeta in the far field compared to the case of a plane wave. It is demonstrated that Deltaeta is in the same order of magnitude as the direct electro-optic phase shift at the exit of the detection crystal and thus also gives a significant contribution to the measured amplitude.

A hydrogen-bonded organic nonlinear optical crystal for high-efficiency terahertz generation and detection.

Broadband THz pulses have been generated in 2-[3-(4- hydroxystyryl)-5,5-dimethylcyclohex-2-enylidene]malononitrile (OH1) by optical rectification of sub-picosecond laser pulses. We show that OH1 crystals allow velocity-matched generation and detection of THz frequencies in the whole range between 0.3 and 2.

Measurement of the terahertz-induced phase shift in electro-optic sampling for an arbitrary biasing phase.

We present a simple method to correct for nonlinearities in the detection of terahertz (THz) transients by electro-optic sampling. The THz-induced phase shift of the optical probe beam is calibrated with an additional biasing phase from a variable wave plate. All the parameters that are needed for the determination of this phase shift can be directly measured, which makes the method insensitive to errors resulting from residual birefringences of the electro-optic material or imperfections of the wave plate.

High efficiency generation and detection of terahertz pulses using laser pulses at telecommunication wavelengths.

We report on the generation and detection of few-cycle THz pulses in the organic crystal DAST (4-N,N-dimethylamino-4'-N'-methyl stilbazolium tosylate) using the telecommunication wavelength 1.5 mum. A continuous spectrum from 1.