Frequency tunable etalon with optical shutter for terahertz laser pulses

Tsubouchi, Masaaki; Kumada, Takayuki   

Arbitrary pulse shaping in THz region is required for the application of THz laser pulses. In this study, we developed the etalon operated in the THz region as one of the basic technologies for the pulse shaping. The etalon is composed by the thin silicon plate and the glass coated by the indium tin oxide. After the THz pulse is introduced in the etalon, the silicon is irradiated by UV light pulse to generate plasma sheet on the silicon surface. The plasma sheet operates as the optical switch which traps the THz pulse in the etalon. We realized the THz pulse train with extremely high efficiency by employing our etalon with optical switch.