THz wave air photonics: bridging the “gap” and beyond

Dr. Xi-Cheng Zhang – Professor and Director of The Institute of Optics, University of Rochester. Dr. Zhang has received 26 US patents, published 23 books and book chapters, and authored or co-authored over 300 refereed scientific papers. He is a Lifetime Fellow of IEEE, the Optical Society of America, and the American Physics Society.

Program Description:

Historically, THz technologies were mainly used within the astronomy community for searching far-infrared radiation (cosmic background), and the laser fusion community for the diagnostics of plasmas. Since the first demonstration of THz wave time-domain spectroscopy in the late 80’s, there has been a series of significant advances (particularly in recent years) on the development of intense sources and sensitive detectors.

THz wave air photonics involves the interaction of intense femtosecond laser pulses with air. The very air that we breathe is capable of generating and detecting THz field.