Fiber-coupled antennas for ultrafast coherent terahertz spectroscopy in low temperatures and high magnetic fields

For the purposes of measuring the high-frequency complex conductivity of correlated-electron materials at low temperatures and high magnetic fields, a method is introduced for performing coherent time-domain terahertz spectroscopy directly in the cryogenic bore of existing dc and pulsed magnets. Miniature fiber-coupled THz emitters and receivers are constructed and are demonstrated to work down to 1.5 K and up to 17 T, for eventual use in higher-field magnets. Maintaining the submicron alignment between fiber and antenna during thermal cycling, obtaining ultrafast (<200 fs) optical gating pulses at the end of long optical fibers, and designing highly efficient devices that work well with low-power optical gating pulses constitute the major technical challenges of this project. Data on a YBCO superconducting thin film and a high mobility two-dimensional electron gas are shown. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.