Asynchronous optical sampling terahertz time-domain spectroscopy for ultrahigh spectral resolution and rapid data acquisition

We propose a terahertz time-domain spectrometer based on asynchronous optical sampling. The spectrometer features ultrahigh spectral resolution equivalent to a laser mode-locked frequency and rapid data acquisition. The proposed method requires no mechanical translation stages for time-delay scanning, and hence, overcomes the inherent tradeoff between frequency resolution and data acquisition time. Time evolution of the picosecond terahertz pulse with a temporal window of 12.1 ns is measured directly on an oscilloscope using a time-scale magnification of 764 815. A frequency resolution of 82.6 MHz is achieved at a measurement time of 10 s. The effectiveness of the proposed method is confirmed by comparing it with conventional stage-scanning terahertz time-domain spectroscopy. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.