Narrow Linewidth Tunable Terahertz Radiation By Photomixing Without Servo-Locking

A beatnote, tunable from dc to 1 THz, provided by a dual-frequency laser is used to feed an unitravelling carrier photodiode in order to produce a highly coherent THz signal radiated by a transverse-electromagnetic-horn antenna. The THz signal is detected and analyzed by a subharmonic mixer coupled to an electrical spectrum analyzer. All components involved in this experiment operate at room temperature without phase locking the beatnote. So far, the dynamic range evolves from 58 dB at 282 GHz to 15 dB at 1.026 THz, and the measured linewidth is better than 30 kHz. Linewidth narrowing using a Brillouin fiber laser pumped by the dual-frequency laser leads to a beatnote of 500-Hz linewidth at 1 THz.