Makoto Nakajima

We investigated the ultrafast terahertz response to the photoexcitation for vanadium dioxide single crystals and thin films using the optical-pump terahertz-probe technique at room temperature. The optical excitation induced an ultrafast decrease of the transmittance of the terahertz radiation within 0.7ps. Since we expect only the free carrier response in the terahertz range, the decrease of the transmittance is unambiguously assigned to the appearance of the high electronic conductivity due to

We report the first observation of sub-terahertz bulk-magnetization precession, using terahertz time-domain spectroscopy. The magnetization precession in gallium-substituted epsilon-iron oxide nano-ferromagnets under zero magnetic field is induced by the impulsive magnetic field of the THz wave through the gyromagnetic effect. Just at the resonance frequency, the linear to circular polarized wave conversion is realized. This is understood as the free induction decay signal radiated from a rotati

Quasi-monodisperse dielectric particles organized in a periodic hexagonal network on an aluminum surface are exploited numerically and experimentally as a single-layered near-perfect absorber in the terahertz regime. Of particular interest are titanium dioxide (TiO(2)) microspheres because of their large dielectric permittivity and isotropic shape leading to Mie resonances with insensitive polarization. Absorption higher than 80% at normal incidence covering two distinct ranges of frequencies is

The temperature dependence of the terahertz (THz) radiation from semi-insulating InP surfaces excited by ultrashort laser pulses has been studied in detail between 10 and 300 K. It is found that the electric field of the radiated THz waves show opposite polarity at low and high temperatures for low-density excitation. The temperature dependence is explained by the competing model of the drift and the diffusion currents. Good agreement between the experimental results and the calculations based o

A magnetically and electrically polarization-tunable terahertz emitter that integrates a ferromagnetic heterostructure and large-birefringence liquid crystals is demonstrated. The heterostructure and the liquid crystal cell act as the broadband terahertz source and the phase retarder, respectively. The polarization state is switched between linear and circular by changing the direction of the external magnetic field. The phase retardation for frequencies higher than 1 THz is continuously adjusta

We demonstrate terahertz pulse generation from silver nanoparticle ink, originally developed for printed electronics, under irradiation by femtosecond laser pulses. Using metal nanoparticle ink, metallic nanostructures can be easily made in a large area without lithographic techniques. Terahertz pulses were emitted from the baked ink, having spontaneously formed nanostructures of ∼100 nm. From the results of the baking temperature dependence and the polarization measurement, the terahertz genera

Substantial enhancement of terahertz magnetic near field achieved by the combination of a tapered metallic waveguide and a micro-split-ring resonator is demonstrated. The magnetic near field is probed directly via the magneto-optic sampling with a Tb₃Ga₅O₁₂ crystal. The incident terahertz wave with a half-cycle waveform is generated by using the pulse-front tilting method. The magnetic near field at the resonant frequency is enhanced by more than 30 times through