Terahertz beam steering and frequency tuning by using the spatial dispersion of ultrafast laser pulses

We demonstrate a terahertz (THz) beam steering method using difference frequency generation that is based on the principle of phased array antennas. A strip-line photoconductive antenna was illuminated by two spatially dispersed beams produced from an ultrafast laser. THz radiation with a bandwidth of 65 GHz was generated from the overlapping area of the two beams, between which the frequency difference was approximately constant. We confirmed that the THz beam can be steered by tilting one of the incident pump beams so as to change their relative phase relation. The steering range of the THz beam was 29 degrees when the angle between the incident pump beams was only varied within a range of 0.155 degrees, that is, 187 times less. In addition, by laterally shifting one of the pump beams, the frequency of the THz radiation could be tuned from 0.3 to 1.7 THz. This technique can be applied to high-speed terahertz imaging and spectroscopy systems. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America.