Light-guiding-light-based temporal integration of broadband terahertz pulses in air
Jiayu Zhao,
Feifan Zhu,
Yongpeng Han,
Qining Wang,
Li Lao,
Xiaofeng Li,
Yan Peng,
Yiming Zhu
Affiliations
Jiayu Zhao
Terahertz Technology Innovation Research Institute, Terahertz Spectrum and Imaging Technology Cooperative Innovation Center, Shanghai Key Lab of Modern Optical System, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China
Feifan Zhu
Terahertz Technology Innovation Research Institute, Terahertz Spectrum and Imaging Technology Cooperative Innovation Center, Shanghai Key Lab of Modern Optical System, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China
Yongpeng Han
Terahertz Technology Innovation Research Institute, Terahertz Spectrum and Imaging Technology Cooperative Innovation Center, Shanghai Key Lab of Modern Optical System, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China
Qining Wang
Terahertz Technology Innovation Research Institute, Terahertz Spectrum and Imaging Technology Cooperative Innovation Center, Shanghai Key Lab of Modern Optical System, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China
Li Lao
Tera Aurora Electro-optics Technology Co., Ltd., Shanghai 200093, China
Xiaofeng Li
Terahertz Technology Innovation Research Institute, Terahertz Spectrum and Imaging Technology Cooperative Innovation Center, Shanghai Key Lab of Modern Optical System, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China
Yan Peng
Terahertz Technology Innovation Research Institute, Terahertz Spectrum and Imaging Technology Cooperative Innovation Center, Shanghai Key Lab of Modern Optical System, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China
Yiming Zhu
Terahertz Technology Innovation Research Institute, Terahertz Spectrum and Imaging Technology Cooperative Innovation Center, Shanghai Key Lab of Modern Optical System, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China
The next generation of all-optical computation platforms prefers the light-guiding-light (LGL) scheme inside a medium that envisions circuitry-free and rapidly reconfigurable systems powered by dynamic interactions between light beams. Currently, suitable LGL materials and corresponding mechanisms are in urgent need. In this work, we proposed ubiquitous air as a restorable LGL signal manipulation medium with transient air-plasma waveguide circuits. Briefly, by focusing femtosecond laser beams in free space, the created atmospheric plasma filament array via photoionization was able to guide terahertz (THz) pulses along its epsilon-near-zero zone with a 1/f-profile spectral response. Consequently, this achieved a time-domain integration of the THz pulse in broad bandwidth. When the pumping laser was sequentially turned off and on, this air-plasma multi-filament structure was erased and rebuilt within nano- and femto-seconds, respectively, allowing rapid and repeated rearrangements of the all-optical stage. Furthermore, this air-based LGL information processing approach is promising to pave the way toward all-optical calculations during free-space directional transmission of THz waves, in which way the delivered THz signal can be remotely controlled.
