arXiv · 2608.04238
Fully optoelectronic coherent THz spectroscopy
Abstract
Coherent terahertz spectroscopy of molecular transients has so far relied on electronic sources whose bandwidth is limited to a fraction of their center frequency. Photoconductive devices offer a complementary approach, combining intrinsically broadband operation with coherent optoelectronic generation and detection. We report free-induction-decay spectroscopy of carbonyl sulfide at 0.29 THz in which, to our knowledge for the first time, both the pulsed emitter and the coherent heterodyne receiver are LT-GaAs photoconductors simultaneously pumped by a single free-running dual-frequency Ti:Sa laser. The receiver operates within 15 dB of the thermal noise limit, and the shared optical reference maintains phase coherence over more than 1000 averaged acquisitions. The measured transients agree with a time-domain Maxwell-Bloch model based on HITRAN parameters. These results demonstrate the feasibility of fully optoelectronic coherent THz spectroscopy and establish photoconductive optoelectronic mixing as a practical route toward frequency-agile, high-resolution coherent THz spectrometers over broad spectral ranges.
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François Parnet, Francis Hindle, Ulysse Mao, Guillaume Ducournau, Jean-François Lampin, Sophie Eliet, François Bondu, Romain Peretti, Gaël Mouret, Daniele Fontanari, Goulc'hen Loas, Emilien Peytavit. 2026-08-04. Fully optoelectronic coherent THz spectroscopy. https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.04238
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