Synthesis of terahertz electromagnetic wave pulses using amplitude-and-phase masks

In the conventional terahertz (THz) electromagnetic emission and detection scheme using a semiconductor as a THz wave emitter and a photoconductive antenna as a THz wave receiver, we generated THz electromagnetic waves having various temporal waveforms by inserting simple plastic plates between off-axis parabolic mirrors. We simulated the observed waveforms using a simple model, where the THz field is expressed by the summation of fields passing through each sub-section of the whole cross-section of the collimated THz beam. The results show a new simple method to shape THz pulses with complicated temporal waveforms.