New Frontiers in Terahertz Technology
太赫兹技术前沿进展
Mona Jarrahi
ABSRACT
Although unique potentials of terahertz waves for chemical identification, material characterization, biological sensing, and medical imaging have been recognized for quite a while, the relatively poor performance, higher costs, and bulky nature of current terahertz systems continue to impede their deployment in field settings. In this talk, I will describe some of our recent results on developing fundamentally new terahertz electronic/optoelectronic components and imaging/spectrometry architectures to mitigate performance limitations of existing terahertz systems. In specific, I will introduce new designs of high-performance photoconductive terahertz sources that utilize plasmonic antennas to offer terahertz radiation at record-high power levels of several milliwatts – demonstrating more than three orders of magnitude increase compared to the state of the art. I will describe that the unique capabilities of these plasmonic antennas can be further extended to develop terahertz detectors and heterodyne spectrometers with single-photon detection sensitivities over a broad terahertz bandwidth at room temperatures, which has not been possible through existing technologies. To achieve this significant performance improvement, plasmonic antennas and device architectures are optimized for operation at telecommunication wavelengths, where very high power, narrow linewidth, wavelength tunable, compact and cost-effective optical sources are commercially available. Therefore, our results pave the way to compact and low-cost terahertz sources, detectors, and spectrometers that could offer numerous opportunities for e.g., medical imaging and diagnostics, atmospheric sensing, pharmaceutical quality control, and security screening systems. And finally, I will briefly highlight our research activities on development of new types of high-performance terahertz passive components (e.g., modulators, tunable filters, and beam deflectors) based on novel reconfigurable meta-films.
尽管太赫兹波在化学鉴定，材料表征，生物传感和医学成像方面的独特潜力已经被广为认可，但目前太赫兹系统相对较差的性能、较高的成本和本身偏大的体积仍然阻碍着它们的实际应用。在本次演讲中，我将介绍我们团队最近研发的以突破现有太赫兹系统性能限制为目的的新型太赫兹电子/光电组件和成像/光谱结构的部分成果。具体而言， 我将介绍基于等离子体天线的新型太赫兹发射器，它的辐射功率达到了创纪录的毫瓦量级，比目前的技术高出了三个数量级。 该离子体天线还可以应用于设计现有技术无法实现的，在室温条件下具有单光子灵敏度的宽谱太赫兹探测器和外差光谱仪。因为在通讯波段上已经有了商用的高功率、窄线宽、波长可调、体积小以及高性价比的光源，我们优化了等离子体天线和器件结构使其能够在该波段上工作，从而实现了性能的显著提升。因此，我们的成果为那些可以广泛应用在例如医学成像和诊断，大气传感，药物质量控制和安全检查系统等方向的紧凑型、低成本太赫兹发射器、探测器和光谱仪打下了基础。最后，我将简要介绍我们在基于新型可重构超薄膜的全新高性能太赫兹无源元件（例如，调制器，可调滤波器和光束偏转器）研究方向上的一些进展。
BIOGRAPHY
Mona Jarrahi received her B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology in 2000 and her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 2003 and 2007. She served as a Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of California Berkeley from 2007 to 2008. After serving as an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor, she joined the University of California Los Angeles in 2013 where she is currently a Professor of Electrical Engineering and the Director of the Terahertz Electronics Laboratory. Prof. Jarrahi has made significant contributions to the development of ultrafast electronic and optoelectronic devices and integrated systems for terahertz, infrared, and millimeter-wave sensing, imaging, computing, and communication systems by utilizing novel materials, nanostructures, and quantum well structures as well as innovative plasmonic and optical concepts. The outcomes of her research have appeared in 200 publications and 160 keynote/plenary/invited talks and have received a significant amount of attention from scientific news outlets including Huffington Post, Popular Mechanics, EE Times, IEEE Spectrum, Optics & Photonics News Magazine, Laser Focus world, and Photonics Spectra Magazine. Her scientific achievements have been recognized by several international and national prestigious awards including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE); Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award from Alexander von Humboldt Foundation; Moore Inventor Fellowship from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; Kavli Fellowship by the USA National Academy of Sciences (NAS), Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering Award from the USA National Academy of Engineering (NAE); Breakthrough Award from Popular Mechanics Magazine; Research Award from Okawa Foundation; Early Career Award in Nanotechnology from the IEEE Nanotechnology Council; Outstanding Young Engineer Award from the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society; Booker Fellowship from the USA National Committee of the International Union of Radio Science; Lot Shafai Mid-Career Distinguished Achievement Award from the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society; Early Career Award from the USA National Science Foundation (NSF); Young Investigator Awards from the USA Office of Naval Research (ONR), the Army Research Office (ARO), and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA); the Elizabeth C. Crosby Research Award from the University of Michigan; and Distinguished Alumni Award from Sharif University of Technology. Prof. Jarrahi is a Fellow of IEEE, OSA and SPIE societies and has served as a distinguished lecturer of IEEE, traveling lecturer of OSA, and visiting lecturer of SPIE societies.
Mona Jarrahi于2000年获得谢里夫理工大学电气工程学士学位，2003年和2007年获得斯坦福大学电气工程硕士和博士学位。2007年至2008年，她在加州大学伯克利分校担任博士后学者。在密歇根大学安娜堡分校担任助理教授后，她于2013年加入加州大学洛杉矶分校，现任电气工程教授和太赫兹电子实验室主任。Jarrahi教授利用新型材料、纳米结构、量子阱结构以及富有创新性的等离子体和光学概念为应用于太赫兹、红外和毫米波传感、成像、计算和通信系统的超快电子和光电器件及集成系统的发展做出了重大贡献。她的研究成果发表在200多篇出版物和160多篇主题报告/大会报告/特邀演讲中，并受到了包括《Huffington Post》、《Popular Mechanics》、《EE Times》、《IEEE Spectrum》、《Optics & Photonics News》杂志、《Laser Focus world》和《Photonics Spectra》杂志在内的众多科学新闻机构的广泛关注。她的科学成就已获得多个国际和美国国内著名奖项的认可，其中包括科学家和工程师总统青年成就奖（PECASE）；亚历山大·冯·洪堡（Alexander von Humboldt）基金会颁发的弗里德里希·威廉·贝塞尔（Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel）研究奖；戈登和贝蒂·摩尔（Gordon and Betty Moore）基金会颁发的摩尔发明家奖；美国国家科学院（NAS）卡夫利奖学金，美国国家工程院（NAE）固安捷基础前沿工程奖；《Popular Mechanics》杂志颁发的突破奖；大川（Okawa）基金会研究奖；IEEE纳米技术委员会纳米技术学者新秀奖；IEEE微波理论与技术学会杰出青年工程师奖；国际无线电科学联合会美国国家委员会布克奖；IEEE天线和传播协会Lot Shafai职业中期杰出成就奖；美国国家科学基金会（NSF）学者新秀奖；美国海军研究办公室（ONR）、陆军研究办公室（ARO）和国防高级研究计划局（DARPA）颁发的青年研究者奖；密歇根大学颁发的伊丽莎白•克罗斯比（Elizabeth C. Crosby）研究奖；谢里夫理工大学颁发的杰出校友奖。同时，Jarrahi教授还是IEEE、OSA和SPIE协会的会员，曾担任IEEE杰出讲师、OSA巡回讲师和SPIE协会客座讲师。