Creation of multi-frequency terahertz waves by optimized cascaded difference frequency generation

A new scheme which generates multi-frequency terahertz (THz) waves from planar waveguide by the optimized cascaded difference frequency generation (OCDFG) is proposed. A THz wave with frequency ω_T1 is generated by the OCDFG with two infrared pump waves, and simultaneously a series of cascaded optical waves with a frequency interval ω_T1 is generated. The THz wave with a frequency of M-times ω_T1 is generated by mixing the m-th-order and the (m+M)-th-order cascaded optical wave. The phase mismatch distributions of cascaded difference frequency generation (CDFG) are modulated by changing the thickness of planar waveguide step by step, thereby satisfying the phase-matching condition from first-order to high-order cascaded Stokes process step by step. As a result, the intensity of THz wave can be enhanced and modulated by controlling the cascading order of OCDFG.