A novel ultrafast terahertz wave modulator based on nonlinear medium

A novel terahertz wave modulator based on guided wave resonance structure is demonstrated. The terahertz wave modulator consists of a prism–metal–polymer–metal multilayer structure. An external pump laser across the large third-order nonlinear susceptibility polymer layer modulates the energy coupling efficiency of incoming terahertz wave into guided wave resonance at fixed input angles. The reflection intensity of the terahertz-beam in the proposed structure can be flexibly tuned from near unity to zero, which is very fast on the order of ten picoseconds. This provides a strategy for constructing and studying ultrafast low-power integrated terahertz wave devices.