The demand for tunable terahertz (THz) generating laser sources is significantly growing as they are used in a wide range of applications including THz imaging, spectroscopy, and metrology. However, the development of THz systems for the use in many practical applications is generally impeded by the limited availability of compact, sufficiently powerful and cost‐effective room‐temperature sources in the desired spectral ranges. Herein, the development of a compact, continuous‐wave, room‐temperature, tunable THz‐generating laser source in the 0.79–1.11 THz spectral region is reported. The laser source is based on intracavity difference‐frequency generation in an aperiodically poled lithium niobate (aPPLN) crystal within a dual‐wavelength vertical‐external‐cavity surface‐emitting laser. Furthermore, spectral coverage in the THz domain is compared for such a device utilizing a periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) and an aPPLN crystal. The demonstrated results pave the way to an effective approach for the development of high‐performance, room‐temperature, widely tunable THz lasers for a variety of applications in science and industry.

中文翻译：

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可广泛调谐的太赫兹半导体激光器

随着可调谐太赫兹（THz）产生激光源的广泛应用，包括太赫兹成像，光谱学和计量学，其需求正在迅速增长。但是，由于在所需光谱范围内紧凑，足够强大且具有成本效益的室温源的有限可用性，通常阻碍了在许多实际应用中使用的太赫兹系统的开发。本文报道了在0.79–1.11 THz光谱范围内紧凑，连续波，室温，可调谐THz产生激光源的开发。激光源基于双波长垂直外腔表面发射激光器中非周期性极化的铌酸锂（aPPLN）晶体中的腔内差异频率生成。此外，对于使用周期性极化铌酸锂（PPLN）和aPPLN晶体的此类设备，比较了THz域中的频谱覆盖范围。证明的结果为开发高性能，室温，可广泛调谐的THz激光器铺平了道路，该激光器可广泛应用于科学和工业领域。