Compact Superconducting Terahertz Source Operating in Liquid Nitrogen

• DOI: 10.1103/physrevapplied.3.024006
• Publication Date: 2015-02-19T22:08:43Z
• Authors: L. Y. Hao; M. Ji; J. Yuan; D. Y. An; M. Y. Li; X. J. Zhou; Y. Huang; H. C. Sun; Q. Zhu; F. Rudau; R. Wieland; N. Kinev; J. Li; W. W. Xu; B. B. Jin; J. Chen; T. Hatano; V. P. Koshelets; D. Koelle; R. Kleiner; H. B. Wang; P. H. Wu
• Keywords: 0103 physical sciences; 01 natural sciences; 7. Clean energy

Sources of terahertz radiation (between the far infrared and microwave frequencies) are in high demand for a host of applications. The authors report on what is essentially a ``T-ray flashlight'', a compact and portable source of tunable, continuous terahertz light, employing a stack of intrinsic Josephson junctions in a cuprate superconductor as the emitter. This economical and convenient device can be driven by one everyday 1.5-V battery, and should facilitate airport security, nondestructive evaluation, and remote detection of trace gases, among other applications.