Genoud, J., E. L. Claveau, S. K. Jawla, G. Li, J. F. Picard, M. A. Shapiro, and R. J. Temkin. “Generation of Nanosecond THz Pulses Using a High Gain Ring Resonator with a Semiconductor Switch.” Applied Physics Letters 121, no. 4 (July 25, 2022): 044101.
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0098718.
A 250 GHz quasi-optical ring resonator consisting of an input coupler and three mirrors has been designed and tested. A low-loss silicon wafer in the ring provides output coupling of the stored power when irradiated by a pulse from a 532nm laser. The ring created 5.8 ns, 268 mW output power pulses when excited by a 17 mW, 250 GHz continuously operating input source, achieving a power gain of 16. In a fully tuned ring, higher gain is achievable. If the ring was used with a pulsed input source having a pulse length of several times the fill time, the ring could be used as an efficient pulse compressor with similar high gain. The resonator has a wide range of applications, including, at low power, spectroscopy and, at high power, testing of accelerator structures and materials.