Terahertz Sources Based on Time-Dependent Metasurfaces

Abstract

Novel metamaterial platforms exhibiting time-dependent electromagnetic properties enable the investigation of previously unexplored light-matter interactions [1] - [2] . A variation in the dielectric function on a timescale shorter than the electric field period is perceived as an ultrafast temporal boundary [3] , thus resulting in a time-dependent "Snell’s law" which connects the polarisation field frequency before and after the transition [4] , [5] . The onset of a frequency shift therefore enables the engineering of exotic nonlinear phenomena such as time refraction and photon acceleration [5] - [7] , with key fundamental and practical implications [8] . In one scheme, a temporal boundary is induced via photoexcitation of semiconducting metamaterials excited by ultrashort optical pulses. Above-bandgap photons drive an ultrafast transition from a dielectric to a metallic state. Temporal-boundaries-mediated nonlinearities become relevant for transition times shorter than the wave-period timescale, a challenging regime in optics. This condition is achieved in a hybrid approach, exploiting the interaction of terahertz (THz) fields and ultrafast photo-excited transients. The peculiar advantage of THz Time-Domain-Spectroscopy techniques is that they allow the agile reconstruction of full-field dynamics with sub-wave-period resolution. In addition, in all the considered schemes, terahertz waves impinge from vacuum onto a positionally static transient, in other words a large velocity mismatch always exists. An unexplored physical scenario is then when the transient is applied directly to a source where the transient exists in the same positional reference as the THz wave.